Don't Tease the Pumpkin King
by GodlyJewel
Summary: If you dare try and tease the King of Halloween, best be prepared to pay the price. For there can be unforeseen consequences, as a little rag doll is about to find out.
1. Costume Chaos

**AN:** I'm back with another NBC story. This was a special request courtesy of Werejaguar of Halloween Town. We were just chatting one day and I mentioned some ideas I had been getting for Jack and Sally. Well, one of them was apparently too good to pass up, so Werejaguar latched onto and began feeding my plot bunnies. Little furry rodents became unbearable and thus was born this story.

This is kinda long but I think you'll like it. Werejaguar lent a hand, and of course I called in CosmicHorse for assistance. You can thank these lovely ladies for the T-rating, when this was meant to be K+. Though I'll admit, I also share in the blame. Could've said no. I did not. I encouraged. So now this story is T, though I may have to change it to a higher rating because things get very heated in the last chapters. Aaaah! I just wanted a funny little one-shot! Instead, I may have just written my first M-rated fic?

Nope, NOPE! Definitely staying T and I ain't budging on it!

 **Disclaimer:** As always, I don't own _Nightmare Before Christmas_. That belongs to Tim Burton. Picture is by jackfreak1994. Check out other her other work on deviantART.

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Bunny's Costume Closet was the newest party shop in town. They had everything needed for all kinds of parties, ranging from princess and super hero-themed kid parties to cocktail hour at a sports bar. The owner's motto was: All your costume needs, from fun to flirty to frightful. The store had been particularly slow that day, so all the employees were able to leave early. The manager waited until all staff were present at the front of the store before leaving. Once the last employee was out, the manager set the code and locked up.

All was quiet in the darkened shop, save for a soft rattling in the back. Had anyone remained, they would have seen a soft light coming from under a storage closet. The doorknob shifted, turning as the door opened, and a pair of blue eyes peeked out into the darkness. Waiting a few more seconds, the door opened completely. A shadow leapt through the darkness, making its way to the front of the store. Spotting the alarm system, the intruder smiled and pulled out a slip of paper with the security code to deactivate the alarm. Once the code was punched in, the intruder ran back to the storage closet.

"Okay, cost is clear," Will called. She waited as her companions made their way out of the closet.

Al formed her hands to look like a gun and raised them to her head, looking around suspiciously. "We are certain the area is secure?" she asked.

"Affirmative, Agent Skeptic." Will laughed. "My informant insured me the store won't open till morning, so we have all night."

"And this guy just gave you the codes?"

Will smiled sheepishly. "Well, I may have…persuaded him to give me the security codes."

"Ooo! Do tell!"

"Well…" She bit her lip and her voice got higher. "I may or may not have used that hypnosis technique Puck taught me to get the codes. Hey, if Dean doesn't remember giving them, he can't get in trouble if we get caught."

"Oh, I'm so proud, but like we'd get caught," Al scoffed. "I thought you knew me by now."

"Are you going to lecture me, or you gonna go find all your Team guys's costumes and have some fun?"

Al dropped her "gun" and squealed. She eagerly dived into the store as she scanned all the different merchandize. Will stayed behind. "You coming or not?"

Hesitantly, the door open farther revealing a tall redhead in a patchwork dress. She scanned the room, excitement and hesitancy in her large round eyes.

"Remind me, why are we here again?" Sally asked.

"Just something to help de-stress," Will said, combing through the aisles. "Now that Al and I are on break from classes, it was the perfect time for us to catch up with you on things. Plus, Al and I have been wanting to check out this costume shop for weeks."

"Will! They have a Loki costume right next to Cap!" Al called.

"Oh! Are they the fem versions? We could totally reenact that epic battle," Will called, making Al laugh. Will joined in as she raced off after her friend, leaving Sally to wander around.

Sally had been surprised when the girls had shown up and invited her on an outing. She had not seen them for some time, and it was nice to visit. Sally had been curious to know what her friends had been up to. She was surprised when Jack had told her Al was engaged and that Will was being courted by a young man, and had since been eager to learn more about what was going on in those relationships. Last time, Will had confided that Al was skeptical of Will's boyfriend, but apparently Al had since warmed up to the young man.

Sally wandered around the shop, admiring the different designs of these human costumes. She noted the unique fabrics and patterns, her own mind thinking up some ideas for next Halloween.

"Hey Sally, come check this out!"

Sally walked towards them. However, she was not expecting to find the girls like this. Al was now wearing a purple jacket with attached green vest front, a grey collared shirt with a brown and yellow neck tie, and matching purple pants with white pinstripes. Beside her, Will was laughing, dressed as a black and red harlequin clown. Both were laughing. Sally was going to ask what they were doing when Will threw her arms around Al.

"You were gonna come back for me, weren't cha, Puddin?" She pouted and batted her eyes, trying not to laugh.

Al was having the same trouble, but managed to pull out a smooth smile. "Of course, Pumpkin Pie! It's just that… Well, here you are, so I can, eh…save myself the trip." She wrapped her arms around Will's waist.

"But what about all our friends? Ivy and Two-Face and Hat Guy, and Lizard Man and Puppet Head and…?"

"What about them?" Al then pulled out a black mask that looked like some sort of bat before saying in a deeper voice, "Don't forget about your little pets!"

Will gasped. She pulled away from Al and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt before she began shaking Al. "The babies! We can't leave the babies!"

Al put her hand on Will's face and pushed her off. "I'll buy you a goldfish, let's go!"

"What in the world?" Sally couldn't help laughing, though she had no idea what was happening. The sound of her voice made the girls fall into a fit of laughter. They stepped away from each other and tried to calm down.

"Sorry Sally," Will said, wiping a tear from her eye. "That's our favorite scene from a show we like. Just couldn't help it when we put on the costumes."

"I told you it'd be better like this," Al added. She stood up and crossed her arms in mock offense. "And to think you tried to make me wear Ivy instead."

"Well, the relationship is better, and you wouldn't have needed the wig," Will pointed out.

"Oh right." She fell into another giggle fit.

"Well, I can see how this can make you relax," Sally said.

"Hey, don't let us have all the fun."

"Yeah! You're trying one on next!" Al grinned wickedly as she held up a costume bag. "Already got the perfect outfit for you."

"W-What?" Sally stepped back. "Oh no. I don't think so."

"Come on, Sally! It's so much fun."

"But I…"

"Too late! This is happening." Al didn't give her a chance to protest. She grabbed Sally by the arm and dragged her over to the dressing room. She pushed her inside and then handed her a costume. "And you're not coming out until that's on, Rags."

"That was kind of harsh," Will said. "She didn't have to put on a costume if she didn't want to."

"Oh, like you haven't had fun playing the Barbie doll."

Will opened her mouth and quickly shut it. "Touché."

They waited a few more minutes before Al called out for Sally to show them the outfit. When she walked out, Sally wore a 1920's flapper costume. The dress was a sequin one shoulder number, trimmed in gold along the shoulder and neckline while the rest of the dress was covered in layers of black fringe, all the way down to the hem at mid-thigh. In addition, Sally also wore a feathered head band, black gloves, garter, beads, stockings, and heeled shoes.

Sally rubbed her arm. "I don't know… This doesn't seem like me."

"Sally, do you have any idea how adorable you look?" Will said. She stood up and took Sally's hands. "Come over and take a peek."

Sally let herself be led over to a full-length mirror. She was surprised to see herself, but then she turned about and surprisingly, she found she like it. The dress was flattering and fit her shape nicely. She noticed Will looking over her shoulder.

"See? Told you that it looked great."

Sally smiled. "Well, it's not something I ever imagined myself wearing, but I admit I like it better than I thought I would."

"That's the fun of costumes. Trying on something new and getting to be someone else."

"Hmm… I wonder if Jack felt this way when I made him that suit?" Sally muttered, gazing at her reflection again.

"Pretty much." Al joined them by the mirror. She put one hand on Sally's back and held up her cellphone in the other. "Smile everyone!"

A bright light flashed and Sally was momentarily blinded. When her vision cleared, she spotted an image of herself, Will, and Al staring back at her from All's cellphone. Al pulled back the phone and laughed.

"Pft! Sally, this is even better than Paddy's day," she said.

"Ally and I like to take photos of the stuff we try on," Will explained. "Since we have all night, we'll have plenty of time to try on some crazy things. Of course, if you'd rather not, it's fine."

Sally looked at the image again. They were all smiling and they looked funny wearing the silly costumes. Perhaps this was just the way to relax. She had been feeling overworked lately. Jack had to plan Halloween with the Mayor, leaving her to handle the wedding details. There was so much planning to do, and if she were honest, she may have taken on too much work. She had just finished putting together the bridesmaid dresses, and there was still work to do on her own dress.

She turned to Will with a smile. "So how many other costumes are there to try?"

Over the next few hours, the three tried on different costumes, taking various photos.

Al enjoyed a mixture of flirty and fangirl. For her personal enjoyment, she posed for several pictures dressed as The Tenth Doctor, Spock, Severus Snape, and Wolverine. She even put on a Kim Possible outfit, and then she had a lot of fun with a Deadpool costume. She then found a cutesy deer costume and Will managed to find a horse costume, though she regrettably agreed to be the rear in order to convince Al to wear it, only For Al to boot Will out to make it a centaur costume.

Meanwhile, Will chose a different style for her costumes. She preferred the classics. Vampire, pirate wench, fairy, and Grecian goddess. She found a Belle's golden ball gown, a rather odd squirrel girl costume, Beetlejuice, and to Will's surprise, she also found a rather disturbing pigeon costume. For that one, Will had snuck up behind Al and scared her, which in turn caused Will to feel the blunt end of a rubber baseball bat as Al chased her around the store. Sally managed to record half the chase on Al's phone.

Since Sally was not familiar with many of the concepts, Will and All selected the majority of her outfits. Will found a nurse, a medieval maiden, and a 1950s costume. Will did try to refrain Al from choosing too many of the adult costumes, but she did find a few. She chose a classic Audrey Hepburn costume, Jessica Rabbit, and, just for the fun of it, a super frilly and sexy Little Bo Peep costume. However, the best was a strikingly familiar pinstripe suit with a matching bat bow tie, included with skeleton hand gloves.

She couldn't believe there was a costume that matched her dearest Jack. She squealed in delight, getting several remarks from Al about how adorable the sound she made was. Will snuck plenty of pictures of Sally doing her best impressions of her beloved. That led into a chain reaction of many impressions of some of Halloween Town's citizens. The best happened when Will and Al found a purple witch and red devil costumes, acting like a bickering Shock and Lock as Sally tried her best not to laugh as she reprimanded them as Jack.

While Sally tried on a genie costume, Al came out in a classic rag doll costume, making Sally laugh. The scene gave Will an idea. She quickly found some little black glasses, bad false teeth, and a lab coat. She pulled her hair back and then sat down in a chair, doing her best scowl. When Sally spotted her, she covered her mouth in a snicker. Will then grabbed Al by the arm.

"The deadly nightshade you slipped me wore off, Sally," she hissed.

"Let go!" Al tried to free her arm, pulling as hard as she could.

Will's grip tightened. "You're not ready for so much excitement."

"Yes I am!"

"You're coming with me!" Will grunted. She leaned back in the chair and pulled Al's arm.

"No I'm not!" Al waited for Will to loosen her grip before pulling herself free. Will pretended to be thrown off balance and fell to the floor, allowing Al to slip away behind a life-size mannequin of a Predator.

Will shook her head and then raised her arm up as she glared at Al. "Come back here, you foolish–" She started hitting her head with her fist. "Ow! Ow! Oh!"

Sally doubled over. "Oh, that sounds just like the Doctor."

"Just you wait. Watch this!" Will got herself back up in the chair, clearing her throat. "That's twice this month you've slipped deadly nightshade into my tea and run off."

"Three times!" Sally corrected.

"You're mine, you know. I made you! With my own hands!"

"You can make other creatio– Hey, wait a minute. How'd you know about that?" Sally asked.

"Uh…lucky guess?" Al said. "You guys did fight a lot."

"Well, that's true I suppose, but that was a very specific fight between Doctor Finklestein and myself."

"Well, uh, it was with the thing, and the place, and the…lady?"

"Igor told us!" Will interrupted. "See, uh, Igor and I were chatting, and I had some dog biscuits I owed him, and well, one thing lead to another…and he kind of told me about the fights, sneaking out, and all that. I mean, Al makes a point, and you two did have your…tiffs? But I swear, I didn't ask him or anything like that!" She smiled, hoping it didn't look as fake as she felt with her lie.

Sally blinked. She was embarrassed about having her more private life discussed, but then she couldn't really blame Igor. She never noticed but he had probably been somewhere in the background doing his chores during her quarrels with the Doctor. He tended to get into trouble for revealing some of Doctor Finklestein's more confidential plans. And of course, she also remembered that the poor dear tended to reveal things whenever someone had dog biscuits. It wasn't really his fault.

"I understand," Sally said. "I guess I can talk to him about that later. Why don't we get back to having some fun?"

"That's fine with me," Al said. "Now, come on! There's still a ton of stuff we haven't tried, and I'm determined to get you two into the fun stuff."

"Fun stuff?" Sally cast a worried glance at Will.

The girl sighed. "Knowing her, expect short and tight, and basically anything worn by Satine in the opening of Moulin Rouge."

"Oh, okay. Um, what's mo͞oˈlan ˈro͞oZH?"

After a quick explanation of the provocative film and a negotiation about certain costumes, Will and Al decided they should pose for group shots. Al showed Sally how to work the camera on her phone so she could pose with Will. The human girls made the rag doll laugh with their creative posing for Wesley and Buttercup, and Alice and the Mad Hatter. There was one particularly epic battle scene with the girls dressed as the feminine versions of Leonardo and Raphael. After that, Will pulled off to grab some costumes. Jack Sparrow and Angelica, the Phantom and Christine Daaé, and Agent's J and K. When it was Will's turn to pose with Sally, Al selected costumes that were more nostalgic. She made them wear a couple of Minions, Pinky and the Brain, and she even found a costume set from Angry Beavers.

It was about a quarter to eleven when they started winding down. Sally was slipping into yet another costume while Al and Will were talking. Al was wearing the Loki costume again and flipping through the photos on her phone. She snickered at one photo when Will walked out wearing the wedding gown from Corpse Bride. Sally had been asking about Will's relationship and she was excited to hear that everything seemed to be going well.

"So yeah, Dean has been great," she told Sally. "He likes to take me out to movies, he buys the tickets and I pay for popcorn. We have study dates, though Al says those don't count–" She noted the girl stuck her tongue out, making Will retaliate. "–and sometimes, we visit each other at work."

"Sounds like you two are really getting along," Sally called from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, it's been great!"

"I still say there's something off about that guy. I mean he pops outta no where, sweeps Willy off her feet but doesn't have the gall to meet her amigas without a public presence and…," Al trailed off, looking up to see Will's glare. "But, as long as my girlie is happy, he remains off my list… for now…" She set her phone down aside. "Anywhos, enough stalling. Come out already! I'm dying to see which one you picked this time."

She giggled. "Okay Al, I'm coming."

Sally then stepped out in a Norma Desmond costume. Will clapped and cheered while Al made a wolf whistle. Sally smiled and began modeling the costume while Al took pictures. Just as Al readied to snap another, Sally leaned up against the doorframe, one hand propped over her face in a dramatic fashion while her leg came up to support her.

"All right, Mr. Skellington, I'm ready for my close-up," Sally replied in a low, sensual voice.

"Ohmagod!" Al laughed herself out of her chair. She fell to the floor in a fetal position as she tried to control herself. Will couldn't hold back either.

"I didn't know you watched _Sunset Boulevard_?"

"Oh, is that the costume I'm wearing?" Sally asked. "I noticed the line was printed on the bag, so I thought…"

"Oh man! Ally, tell me you recorded that?" Will turned to Al who was still giggling on the floor. "Well, that's a definite nope. Too bad. Jack's skull would pop off before he combusted from all that heat."

Al snorted before raising her hand. "I can see it now! One. Big. KABOOM! Little happy Jack bits all over the place."

Sally blushed heavily. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the comment, but she would be lying if she denied that she didn't like the idea of making Jack feel that way.

"Come on," Will said, trying not to trip on the gown's train. "Let's try on more costumes!"

"Don't you think we've tried on enough?" Sally asked. "It's getting really late."

"Really? And I thought you liked the night," Al pointed out. "I mean, Will's been more of the nightlife scene since getting batty, but I thought everybody from Halloween Town was like nocturnal or something?"

"Well, that's true, but didn't you both said you had work in the morning?" Sally said.

"Blah!" Al groaned. She flopped back on the beanbag she was using. "Do we have to? I hate people."

"Ugh, and tomorrow's Saturday, so working retail is going to so fun," Will moaned. She sighed and nudged Al's side with her foot. "Come on, Ally Cat. Time to go."

"Don't wanna!"

"Seriously, we need to go," Will said. "Besides, we still need to put everything back so no one knows we were even here."

"They will from the security cameras."

"Not if we put everything, wait, what?!" Will panicked.

"Duh, there's one there," Al pointed out, waving slightly. "You told me this place was like where you worked, so I knew there'd be cameras. Otherwise, we would've had to knock out a security guard or something."

"Why didn't you say anything till now?!"

Al snorted. "Well, obviously you turned them off when you punched in the security codes… Right?"

Will shook her head. "That was just to turn off the alarm."

"Oh…" Al's eyes widened. "Oh!"

"Ah crap! The cameras!" Will rushed out to find the office. Sally and Al followed to find her struggling to open the office door.

"Will."

"What?!"

Al walked up and hooked her finger around the chain on Will's neck. "I think you forgot about this."

Will wanted to smack herself. She released the door and took her skeleton key from her neck. She undid the lock and entered the office. Her friends followed, looking around. There was a desk and chair, a table where walkie-talkies were charging, a safe, and a table with the security monitors. Sure enough, the cameras were pointed at where the girls had been dressing up. Al moved passed Will and sat down the computer. She accessed the files. When she found the right one, she played back the last few hours of security footage. The cameras had caught everything, even when Sally's arm had gotten caught on the imitation scythe of the Reaper costume and ripped off.

"Oh, this is so bad!" Will said. "How could I forget about these stupid things?!"

"Isn't there just a way to erase the tapes?" Sally asked.

Will shook her head. "It's not that simple. First, everything's digitalized so there are no tapes. Second, we have no way to erase the footage without someone questioning why hours of it are missing. Al, isn't there anyway to make the feed loop over some blank shots of the store without screwing up the time of the footage?"

"And how do you suppose I do that?" Al replied. "Do I look like the tech whiz from high school? I just know how to work the computer to show what the camera picks up."

"I thought you worked with computers at the bowling alley?"

"Yeah, cause a security system works the same as fixing a scoreboard or resetting a lane." Al said sarcastically before scoffing. "Peasants…"

"Aah! Well, what are we supposed to do? We can't just leave it," said Will stated.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Isn't there something we can do?" Sally asked.

"Not likely," Will said, leaning up against the wall. "Without raising a lot of questions, we'd need something like a power outage to explain why the security footage was missing."

"Hey! That's not a bad idea."

"What are you talking about, Al?"

"Think about it." She turned around in the chair. "Whenever there's a power out at the bowling alley, we need to call someone in to backup the server. Sometimes we can recover, but if it was bad enough, we need to reboot the whole system and reset the equipment."

"Unless the store has a powerful enough generator," Sally added. "I'm not too familiar with machinery, but once Doctor Finklestein used a lot of power for one of his experiments that caused a blackout through the town. He created a backup generator to prevent another one from happening."

"Okay so how does that help us?"

"Hmm…" Sally thought it over. **"** Perhaps we could use a high pitch frequency… or maybe if there was an electrical storm, or some other weather-related cause…"

"Pft! Not gonna happen," Al stated. "Weather is actually nice for once, so any other ideas?"

"Well… If the store was infested, that would be better," Sally suggested. "Small animals like mice can shut down the equipment by getting into things like transformers and fuses, causing the equipment to shut down."

"That's not a bad idea!" Will exclaimed.

"What you talking about?"

"No time, Ally. Right now we need to find the transformer. Sally just gave me an idea for a plan."

 **XXX**

Jack was enjoying the quiet as he relaxed in the living room. He had stayed up waiting for Sally to return, and he gotten caught up in a good book. Zero was sleeping at his feet. The ghostly pup snored lightly, a half eaten candy cane in his jaw. Jack was just finishing off the last chapter when he heard the closet door rattle, making Zero sleepily perk up his ears.

He smirked. Closing the book, Jack set it on the table and got up to greet his ladylove. The door burst open and Sally rushed in.

"Good evening, my…"

"Al, quickly, get her on the couch!"

"What the?!" Jack watched as Al ran passed him on the couch. He noticed she carried something that appeared to be smoking in her hands. When she set it down, it was revealed to be a small bat. The creature was blackened and its fur was completely disarrayed. It started coughing, black smoke rings coming escaping its mouth.

Zero jumped, now fully awake. He spotted Al and instantly his sheet wagged. He barked, but when he didn't get a response, he became curious to the creature that Al had placed on the couch. He flew closer and sniffed it. The smell of burnt fur made him sneeze.

"I'll get a blanket," Sally called as she ran out of the room. "Keep talking to her, make sure she stays awake."

"Noted!" Al placed her hands on the edge of the couch. "Hey Willy, how you feeling?"

"That's Will?!"

Will coughed again, her voice dry and raspy. "I finally understand how Tito felt. Anyone else smell barbecue?"

Hearing her groan, Zero floated closer and nudged Will with his nose. She winced but appreciated the gesture. She patted his head with her wing.

"What on earth happened?" Jack asked. He knelt down to get a closer look at his friend.

"It was my fault," Will answered. "I forgot to turn off the security cameras while we were in the costume shop. We had to erase the footage, but we couldn't come up with a reason for why it'd be missing. Then Sally remembered a power outage could cause a short circuit and mess with the equipment."

"And how did you manage that?"

"Attempted sabotage of a security system," Al explained. "Will went bat-mode to chew up the wires, making it look like mice had gotten in and wrecked stuff."

"Alright but how does that explain what happened to Will?"

Al grinned sheepishly. "Well…"

" _Someone_ forgot to wait to turn the power back on!" Will barked, coughing again.

"How was I supposed to know you missed a wire?" Al replied. "So anyway, while Will was cutting the wires, I flipped the power back on before she was done, and she may or may not have gotten a little electrocuted.

" _A little?!_ " Will squeaked.

"Again, sorry."

"You're just lucky I got my braces off in high school," she grumbled. Al rolled her eyes and started looking at her phone.

"Well, is it serious?" Jack asked. He never had much experience with electrical injuries, lacking flesh and blood, but he recalled the burns Will suffered last Christmas. She almost looked as charred as she did then.

Apparently, she was feeling about the same too. "Sally says she didn't see any burns but she wants to check before she calls Finklestein."

Al was about to reply when Sally reentered the room. She had what looked like one of her fabric samples in her hands. Jack moved aside so Sally could place it over Will's body. "There, how does that feel?"

"Better…but my mouth tastes like an ashtray and everything smells like burnt toast."

"You might have an oral burn," Sally replied. "Hmm… I think we still have a bottle of water from when the witches cast a healing spell on it."

"It's in the medicine cabinet. I'll get it." Jack slipped out of the room. When he returned, he handed the crystal vile of green water to Sally.

"Thank you." Sally undid the bottle and filled the cap with a small amount of water. She offered it to Will. "Think you can drink this?" she asked.

Will nodded. She struggled to sit up but she managed to drink the water. "Thanks. I needed that."

Sally recapped the vile. "Well, that should take care of any internal injuries, but I want to check you over just to be safe."

"Anything you say, Nurse Sally," Will joked.

"Al, could you bring Will into the back for me?"

"On it. Let's go, Baby Bat," Al teased, scooping Will back into her hands.

"I thought I told you not to call me that!" Will stated. "I better not see pictures of this on FaceBook."

"Oh, fine, party pooper. No cake for you!" Al pulled her phone from her pocket and opened up the pictures. She showed them to Will. "See! Nothing of you getting zapped." She set the phone on the coffin table and trotted after Sally. "You gotta admit, they would've made great memes."

Jack just shook his heads. He couldn't wait to hear this story. He decided to return to his book when something on Al's phone caught his eye. Jack picked up the phone. There were several images on the screen and they were all of Sally. In each one Sally wore a different outfit. Taking a glance over his shoulder to ensure the girls were occupied, Jack selected on of the photographs. When it came up, he saw his darling Sally dressed in a Victorian era gown with a parcel in hand. Jack smiled. She looked adorable!

 _Is this what they were up to all night_? he thought. He swiped his finger across the screen to another photo. This one was a of Will, Al, and Sally standing before a mirror. They were dressed up as Christmas elves and making amusing faces. Jack laughed. He couldn't get over how Sally crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

Jack sat down on the couch and began scanning through the photos. Apparently, the girls had taken many photographs. There were several he found funny, while others he admitted were endearing. He was particularly fond of one image of his Sally wearing what looked like a green archer costume when he swiped to the next picture. Jack blanched, nearly dropping the phone.

"S-S-Sally?!…" Jack felt like his throat was dry and he had to grip onto the arm of the couch. He couldn't pull his eye sockets away from the image. There was Sally in possibly the most gorgeous dress he had ever seen. The fabric fell well on her shape, molded to fit her perfectly, hugging her curves like a second skin in a vision of black. Long black satin gloves encased her arms all the way to her elbows, and her hair was pulled up to show off the jewelry. A pearl necklace with a flower pendant graced her lovely neck, which accented the faux diamond earrings, and adorning her head was a jeweled hairpiece.

The form fitting little number made Jack tug on his shirt collar—it was getting a bit warm—and roughly clear his rather dry throat. Now, Jack may not have eyeballs, but he could see perfectly, and he could see—oh boy could he see—that Sally had a fantastic figure. The black dress's slender form fitting design torturously outlined the petiteness of her waist, the wide curves of her hips, and the slender lines of her chest. It was like being reminded of the dress she wore for New Years the night he proposed to her. He had been nervous enough, but add the love of his afterlife in a sinfully spectacular dress… Someone have mercy on a poor skeleton! What other costumes had they tried on? Looking at the phone, Jack knew all he had to do was swipe through the numerous images to discover what he wanted to know. It would be so easy…

Jack shook his head. No! He shouldn't have been looking in the first place. This phone belonged to Al. If anything, he was invading her privacy by looking. However, she never said he couldn't look, and Al and Will had shown him many photographs on the devices before. He knew he shouldn't, but that unfortunate curiosity of his was winning out. He just had to know what other costumes Sally had tried. And if any were as lovely as this one…

Zero watched his master from the his place at Jack's feet. He knew Al wouldn't like anyone going through the odd box of hers, but whatever his master was looking at had his rapt attention. Zero couldn't put a phantom paw on it but something seemed…different.

Jack continued to search through the photos, coming across the first photograph Al had taken. Jack felt his phantom heart skip a few beats at the sight of his beloved sporting the fashion of a flapper girl. He remembered the 1920s with a great fondness, and could remember exactly when many a young maiden confidently walked the streets of Paris or New York with those puckishly short dresses. How they caused quite an uproar among the stuffy older generation and a more welcomed one from the men of that era. He hadn't been interested all that much back then, not like many of his friends who'd whistle and flirt with wolfish grins at pretty vamps. Though seeing Sally in this iconically scandalous dress… Now that was something else if the heat in his bones had anything to say about it.

The next picture wasn't helping with his heating bones either. Here, Sally wore a white dress and nursing cap similar to what he's seen nurses wear in the 1950s, though this costume came with red high heeled shoes. However, the sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and skirt was far shorter than what would have deemed appropriate. Sally stood in the picture with her legs crossed, allowing him a sneak peek of her thighs from the slits along the sides of the skirt. Jack had always loved Sally's long legs and getting to see a little more, and then there was the cut of the neckline… Oh, that neckline! Now that was just unfair!

Jack was used to seeing his Sally in her infamous patchwork dress since first encounter that one Halloween many years ago. Although, she had confessed to him on one of their many nights of deep conversation, the fact that she didn't have much of a choice in what she wore back at the lab. It was either make something from the scraps of cloth supplied by the Doctor, which is how she created her dress in the first place, or be stuck in the medical gown and scrubs that she "awoke" in.

He still remembered how Sally had to physically stop him from storming over to Finkelstein's Manor in the middle of the night to give the older man a piece of his mind. If it wasn't for the fact that Jack made himself focus on the photos again, Al's phone would have been reduced to a puddle of boiling metal, glass, and circuitry on the rug. The "good" Doctor had lost quite a few points with Jack after that, though he did still treat the old scientist with the air of cordial politeness that was in his nature as a gentleman. That didn't mean he had to like it.

The slow burn of righteous fury turned to another type of burn as admiring sockets took in the expanse of long, sinfully shapely legs and all the teasing seams that curled and dipped until barely disappearing under a short, white skirt that didn't help the shape of what those long legs were attached to. He'd recalled how her strapless New Year's gown had exposed her shoulders and a touch of her back beautifully—he nearly tripped over his own feet when she first came down the stairs in it—and her patchwork dress was a tad bit bold in that area as well, but neither dress so openly exposed the top of her chest in combination to her neck and collar. He felt all too warm again, a little bit embarrassed at himself for staring at images of his fiancé like this, and well, sort of smug. This was the woman he was going to call his queen and wife; this was his bride looking all too alluring, confident, and kittenish.

Jack smirked at his train of thought, feeling a little silly at his previous embarrassment. What was there to deny? He liked what he saw and there really wasn't anything to feel ashamed about. It was time to face the facts: Sally was a knockout and it would probably be the death of him.

 _Definitely prefer that over a thousand foot fall after via missile any day…_ He snorted in annoyance then broke out into an appraising little smirk all over again. _And hello Nurse Sally! What a way to go…_

Jack shook his head. This was beginning to get to be all too much for his sanity, or whatever was left of it. He could only hope, though a part of him did pout a little at the thought, that the next picture wouldn't be so…alluring. Taking a moment to breathe and calm the heat traveling through his bones, Jack carefully swiped at the screen only to have his phantom heart stop.

"Now that's just cruel…" he muttered breathlessly to empty air, skeletal hand trembling with phone in grasp.

This next photograph had been a group photo that looked to be taken straight from the Middle East. They were dressed as a trio of harem girls. Al stood on the right, one hand behind her head while the other was propped on her jutted hip. Her costume a wine-colored red and she wore no accessories. Will stood on the left in a similar position, but her costume was a light blue and she wore a face veil. And then, standing front and center in possibly the most tortuous of outfits yet, stood his fantastic Sally, and by God, Jack couldn't stop gazing at her, even if he wanted to.

Al and Will were dressed in harem pants, a halter top and hip scarf, but Sally wore a bra and belt ensemble of a professional belly dancer. One of her legs parted the long skirt along the slit, giving Jack a more pronounced view of her full leg than the nurse outfit had. Her long, bare arms were stretched out as she held up a lengthy veil that seemed almost connected to the added armbands on her wrists, and atop her head a silver chain headpiece with coins. Jack could not believe how confident she looked in such a daring costume, her stance showing something that he knew was always there in her no matter how modest or shy she felt.

 _Curiosity killed the cat, you know…_ he mentally recited with a faint chuckle, shaking his skull in thought before opening his sockets again. Although his gaze still reflected hooded desire, it was soften with love and amusement. The smile on his skeletal lips widen as he took in the whole picture again. Yes, his beloved looked like she had danced her way out of a terribly tempting fantasy of his, possibly after rereading one too many pages of _1001 Arabian Nights_.

He chuckled sheepishly, free hand rubbing the back of his neck as he took a moment to focus again. Besides, there was no harm with putting that thought on the proverbial back burner. He cleared his throat and tugged at his bow tie.

However, it wasn't the outfit that really mattered. It was the brilliant smile on her red lips and spark of mischief in her beautiful eyes. She looked happy and carefree with something as simple as just having some fun with good friends, and although Al and Will could be a bit much with their jokes and pranks; they more than proved to be horribly loyal friends to not just his future Queen or himself, but to everyone in Halloween Town.

Still…brilliant smile and loyal mortal friends aside, the photograph in his hand consisted of one sensually smiling Sally in an exotic outfit that boldly exposed skin and seams that he hadn't had the pleasure of truly appreciating. He would have to wait until after they were married to be personally introduced. Let it be known that Jack Skellington prided himself a gentleman and fair ruler, but never in his many centuries of life admitted to being a saint. Where would be the fun in that anyway?

He looked closer at the picture, sockets narrowed in focus as he muttered to himself with a interested smirk. "I never knew she had stitches along her…"

"Enjoying the little sneaky peek?"

Jack made something that sounded like a choked gasp as he nearly dropped the phone. He shot off the couch with the phone clutched to his chest. Al was leaning against the doorframe smirking at him with a knowing, and rather wicked looking grin.

He gulped and blanched brightly.

"I-I…"

Zero whimpered and hid under the couch. He knew his master was about to get into serious trouble, and he didn't want to be too close when Al started yelling.

Al sashayed over and took her phone back from the stuttering skeleton. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. I feel like I should be surprised, but then again, I'm not," she teased. She looked at the photo. "Oh yeah, this was fun."

"I-I am so sorry! I swear, I wasn't, what I mean is, I didn't mean–"

"Chill Bone Man, I'm not gonna tell. Though I should since you were drooling over your lady, and I know what sexy ensembles are hidden away on here." She snickered at the look of guilt on Jack's skeletal face. "And since you got to this one, I can tell where you were headed. This is tame compared to the other stuff we tried on."

"You-You mean there's s-something m-m-more revealing?!" Jack asked.

Al quirked a knowing eyebrow. "Oh? Did you wanna see more?"

Jack blanched. He stood up and waved his hands fanatically. "Nope! No! Absolutely not!"

"You know you want to look, you dirty old man," she sang, waving the phone about. "And it's not like you haven't already had a nice preview for your wedding night."

Jack's eye socket twitched, vertebrae popping in irritation and anxiety at Al's insinuations. Then again, she was human, which meant her general lifespan was considerably shorter compared to that of his or just about anyone in Halloween Town. He had been in the equivalent of his early twenties when Abraham Stroker had first published Dracula, for Halloween's sake!

"Just so you know, dear Alice," he hissed flatly with an arched skeletal brow. "I'm in my species' equivalent of being in my early-mid thirties, thank you." The sarcasm dripping off that "thank you" like molasses.

Al cocked an eyebrow. "I hear your sass, but given that I am the almighty Sassy One, I'm choosing to ignore you pitiful attempt, Plebeian." Besides, she was just enjoying the show far too much.

She had not expected to find Jack Skellington rummaging through her phone. Then again, she had left the photos open while trying to find that picture of her and Will dressed as Alacard and Seras, not to mention find her own foxy pictures to torment Zack with later. She started scanning through more photos when one in particular caught her eye. Her grin widened.

"Ooo! Check out Rags! Me to the OWW!" Al caught the twitch in Jack's stance. She had piqued his interest. "I can't believe I got her into _that_ one."

"W-Which one?" Jack mentally cursed himself for the strangled slip that was his voice.

"Oh, just this particularly drop dead sexy number I made her try on." All snickered. "She lost a bet."

Jack would need to speak to her about that. While not as murderous as the bastard formally known as Oogie Boogie, Al was just slippery in the games of chance, as both he and a good number of the Halloween Town had discovered. He needed to remind Sally to be a tad more careful in the future. If only he could have given his beloved that warning earlier, she might not have donned whatever, tempting and possibly quite scandalous…

"Wanna see?" she offered, interrupting his train of thought. She was smiling toothily, just like the preverbal cat catching the canary.

"Aaah!" Jack backed to the other end of the couch. _When did she sneak up beside me?!_ he thought, watching her from her perch on the armrest.

Al laughed. "You can't fool me, Jack. I know you're just dying to look at what else your lady put on tonight…"

"Alice, I assure you, I do not!" Jack said, though he knew it was a lie. Seeing those images of Sally were more than enough for a whole millennium of fantasies. The better part of him knew it still wasn't right for him to have peeked at those pictures in the first place. They were not married, and even then, he shouldn't be looking at such pictures without Sally's permission. Then again…

 _No, no, no!_ he firmly scolded himself. It was because he had allowed his mind to venture down that path that ended up with him in this situation in the first place! He knew he needed to put an end to this now. Not only was it wrong, but Jack wasn't sure how much more he could take! He felt so close to the edge that his bones rattled lowly. He did not even want to think about explaining what that meant to two mischievous human girls, let alone to his all too clever fiancé. He would rather the earth to open up and swallow him whole first.

"Liar." Al held out the phone, tempting him with the forbidden fruit. "This particular photo I guarantee will knock you off your boney butt."

"Absolutely not!" Jack held up his hand. He kept himself turned away from Al. "You can tease me till you're a permanent resident of Halloween Town, but I am not going to take the bait!"

"Uh huh, sure." Al slipped from the couch and made her way over to the Pumpkin King. Normally, Jack would hear her and easily move out of her range, but he was currently distracted by a mix of his wild thoughts and adamant conviction to not give in.

"You might as well give up, Alice. This is quite enough foolishness and I'm, I-I-I–" Jack never got to finish the reprimand. How could he when his tongue turned to dust and disappeared at what he was currently staring at with widening sockets?

The rag doll staring back at him wore next to nothing. Only a tiny slip of attire, to which was questionable if it could even be considered clothing. It was a bikini made of nothing but iridescent faux pearls strung together. The strands looped over her chest in an attempt at a bodice but all looked to be held together by the choker around her neck. She was practically bare. If that weren't enough to set his bones aflame, the way she looked… She was perched on a chair, one leg curled up and her hand resting on the front. Her other hand was set on the seat of the chair. Some of the pearl that dangled from the center of her bra were entangled between her fingers, giving off a very playful aspect. The look on her face as she gazed into the camera lens was, oh, Jack had no words. She looked just as sweet as any day, and yet the tilt of her head at just that angle and how softly she smiled.

"I…I…"

Al was thoroughly enjoying this. "What's the matter, Bone Daddy? Cat got your tongue?" There was a muffled mumbling sound. "What's that? Didn't quiet catch what you said."

The only sound that crept from his dry throat was some form of mangled squeak.

"One more time. Still didn't catch that."

"It'snothingbutstrings!"

"I'm sorry, wha–" Jack ran out of the house so fast it made Al's head spin. She had no idea where he was going when she suddenly smelt something burning. Turning around, Al's green eyes widen at the sight of a pair of scorch marks on the couch, right where Jack's hands had been only nanoseconds ago.

Zero flew out from under the couch. He barked once before ghosting over the armrest, putting the flame out. He then flew out after his master, barking frantically.

Al stood there blinking in surprise. Then she smirked. "Oh! Well, alrighty then."

Al shoved her phone back into her pocket and skipped her way out of the living room. She walked up the stairs and into Sally's bedroom. She found her friends sitting in front of the vanity. "So, she gonna live?" Al asked.

"Yes, Will is going to live," Will said, rolling her eyes. "What took you so long? Loose your phone again?"

"No. Just had to wrestle it back from your boyfriend."

"What was Jack doing with your cellphone?" Sally inquired.

"Oh, nothing. Just…trying to be sneaky I guess." She snickered.

"You know what, I don't want to know," Will replied. She stood up and walked over to her friend. "Well, I think we've caused enough damage for tonight. Sorry about all the mess in the end, Sally. I hope you did have a little fun tonight."

"It was fun, but next time maybe we should find something less risky to do," Sally suggested. "Perhaps we could visit Psyche in Valentine's Town? She mentioned there's a club for karaoke."

"Whoo! I'll smoke all of you," Al shouted, before doing a dance and singing, "I'm on tonight you know my hips don't lie. And I'm starting to feel it's right."

"Okay Shakira, no need to show off," Will teased, though she couldn't help dancing along while Al continued to sing.

Sally laughed as she followed the girls out of the room. They walked downstairs to the front door where Sally bid them goodnight. Will took out her key to open a portal back to their world. She was about to put the key into the lock when the door suddenly opened. The girls stood back as Jack walked back into the house, dripping wet. Sally stared wide-eyed as her beloved stood before her, Zero at his heels. He was completely soaked from head to torso with his jacket hanging from his arm and his torn bow tie sticking out of his pocket, yet she saw no sign that it was raining outside.

"Jack, what on earth?"

Before he could reply, Al fell to the floor in a fit of laughter. "Ohmagod! That's too good!"

"Not a word, Alice," Jack hissed. He walked past them, shirt sticking to his ribs and upper back, his shoes sloshing with each step, and grumbling under his breath.

"Jack, why are you wet?" Sally asked. "And what were you doing outside so late?"

Al paused to raise her hand, waving it about excitedly over her head. "Oh, I know! I know! Pick me! Pick me!"

Jack pointed a finger at her, water dripping from the tip. "Not. A. Word."

Al paused as she stared at the finger in front of her nose.

"I feel we are out of the loop," Will said to Sally. While she nodded in agreement, Al pulled Will down to her level and whispered into her ear. Will's cheeks turned red before she too was on her backside and unable to stop laughing.

"What's going on?" Sally asked. She turned to see Jack trying to leave the room. "Jack, where are you going?"

"Please Sally, I'd just like to dry off."

"Well, why are you wet in the first place?"

"I just, uh…tripped and fell into the rain barrel."

Sally furrowed her brow. "Again? You know, maybe you should move that thing."

Both Will and Al instantly sat up, and shouted, "Again?!"

"You mean this has happened before?" Will asked.

"Yes. We had rather warm weather last week," Sally explained. "I believe you girls were effected too."

"Oh yeah, I remember!" Will stated. "It was terrible. Our AC broke and you stopped by, and borrowed…" She clamped her mouth shut and pressed a fist to her lips. "OH!"

"What, what?! Tell me, tell me!" Al bounced about.

"I wasn't expecting the change in weather, so I hadn't the time to make myself something," Sally answered. "Will lent me some clothes to make the heat more bearable, shorts and a tank top. It was the first time I wore something other than a dress. Jack seemed to like it."

"Sally, please, I beg you."

"Jack, there's nothing to be embarrassed about," she said. "After I came home, Jack said I looked very nice and decided to take Zero for a walk. I was surprised because it was really hot outside, but he was back after a short time because he had accidentally fallen into the rain barrel." She turned to Jack. "I still think you fell because you dashed out of the house so fast that morning. Though I guess it must've been some relief from the heat."

Al and Will clapped their hands over their mouths. Jack was mortified.

"Jack, darling, what's the matter?" Sally asked. She stepped forward and reached out to him, but he stepped back. He shook his head and walked from the room. "Jack. Where are you going now?"

"Maybe he's off to finish his cold shower," Will said through a fit of laughter.

Jack froze to the spot before the staircase, instantly blanched a bright white, while the two girls were sent into another giggle fit. Sally, however, had no idea what was happening. Why was the idea of Jack taking a shower making Will and Al laugh? It wasn't really funny. Plus, it did not explain what Jack been doing outside that he would have tripped into the barrel?

Jack grit his teeth. Without turning around, he uttered, "I'm going to dry off. Goodnight, ladies." He then disappeared upstairs. The last thing any of them heard was the loud _bang_ of a door.

"What was all that about?" Sally clucked her tongue. "Honestly, I've never seen him like that before."

"I bet I know what'll calm him down," Al said, wagging her eyebrows. "Maybe little extra special attention from his favorite dolly?"

Will nudged her shoulder. "Oh, knock it off, you bad thing," she said. Will picked herself up and then helped Al to her feet. "Okay, we've done our dirt. Now let's leave the lovebirds alone to kiss and make up."

"Fine. Make me miss all the fun." Al pouted as Will used her key on the door. She waved goodbye to Sally and went through the portal.

Will turned back to Sally. She was clearly still concerned about Jack, and it really wasn't fair to leave her in the dark."Hey, seriously, don't worry about Jack," she said. "He's just a little hot and bothered, that's all."

"Huh?"

"What I mean is, Al told me that when she caught Jack with her phone, she had left it open to all the photos we took tonight." Sally suddenly looked flushed. "And well, he saw a lot of the outfits Al picked out for you, and that got him all riled up."

"Okay…"

Will sighed. "Basically, the man saw his lady dressed in very…attractive outfits, and it got him really flustered, hence the term hot and bothered. When that happens, guys tend to need to physically cool off. That's why he dunked his head in the barrel. Understand?"

"Oh, so he found those photographs of me to be attractive…" she repeated. "And that day, wearing those clothes I borrowed… It had the same affect?"

Will nodded.

"Oh!"

Sally felt her whole face flush. She knew she had some sort of affect on Jack. Throughout their courtship, he had displayed little ways to showed how much he cared for her. He made her feel happier than she had ever thought possible. So much so that she did everything within her power to do the same. She had seen the way he would look at her. The soft sighs, the tender caresses, and the sweet words he whispered to her in the night. The man knew how to set her heart beating erratically, and drive her to the point her stitches could just burst at the seams. Still, Sally had never realized before that she could induce the same feeling in him. And all because of something she wore?

Now that she thought about it, she recalled the first time they had seen each other in their nightclothes. It had been awkward at first, then she couldn't help but think how adorable Jack looked with his little nightcap. She broke the tension by walking up to him and bopping the tasseled end. It hit him on the nose, making them both laugh, and then they spent the rest of the night cuddled on the couch.

"Thank you for clearing that up for me, Will. I think I'll go and try to calm Jack down."

"Yeah, good idea. I think we overdid it on the teasing." Will rubbed the back of her neck.

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to him, and sort everything out," Sally said with a smile. "Now, you better get back. You still have work in the morning."

Will groaned. "Ah, karmic punishment. Tease a skeleton about his rag doll fantasies and pay the price dealing with cranky, crotchety folks who steal crap and can't read the fine print on sale signs."

Sally laughed. "Goodnight Will."

"Night Sally." Will closed the door, leaving Sally alone for the moment. She thought about what she might say to Jack. It would be difficult, but they did need to talk.

Just then Sally spotted Zero by the stairs. He looked up at where Jack had disappeared, a sad frown on his long muzzle. He turn to Sally and started to whimper.

She walked over and kneeled down to pat his head. "Zero, Jack isn't feeling the best right now…" she tried to explain. "I'm going to try and talk to him, but it may take a while. Why don't you spend the night with Will and Al? I'm sure Mogwai would be happy to see you again."

Zero debated the idea. He was worried about the strange way his master was acting, but he also wanted to see his friend. But if anyone could make his master smile again, it was his sweet and loving mistress.

With a nod of his head, Zero licked Sally's cheek and took off into the night. Sally smiled after him before turning her eyes back up toward the stairs.

 _This isn't going to be easy…_

* * *

 **Werejaguar of Halloween Town:** That is some serious foreshadowing.

 **GodlyJewel:** Wait, what're you talking about?

 **Werejaguar of Halloween Town:** Ch. 10 in _Nightmare of Matchmaking_.

 **GodlyJewel:** *checks previous story* OK, so I didn't notice and after I took a look, pretty much laughed when I reread the conversation between Jack, Sally, and Zack. I swear this was not intentional!

 **Werejaguar of Halloween Town:** Life plays in mysterious ways… *does wiggling fingers* Oooooo eeee ooooo!


	2. Fiery Passions

**AN:** Things are about to get spicy. I blame Werejaguar for this...and yet, it was so fun to write. Don't forget to leave a comment.

* * *

Sally turned to make her way upstairs. When she reached the second floor, she saw that the door to Jack's bedroom was slightly cracked. She walked up and lightly tapped on the door. "Jack," she called out. "Is everything all right?"

There was no response. Sally slipped into the room, only to find no sign of the Pumpkin King anywhere. The bed was still made and nothing else seemed out of place; all his nicknacks were where Jack had left them. In fact, it appeared Jack had not been in his room at all. So that left one question: Where could her dearest Jack be?

"Maybe he's in the tower?" She was about to leave when the door creaked. Knowing it had to be Jack, Sally turned only to bump right into him. She placed her hands up instantly to steady herself. Boney hands gripped her shoulders, helping both of them to stay on their feet.

"Oh Jack, I'm so sorry," she started to say.

"S-Sally? What-What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry to intrude, but I needed to talk to you…" As Sally looked up, the first thing she noticed was that Jack's eye sockets were unusually wider than normal. He also seemed to be blanching for, well, she had lost count, but he certainly had been doing it a lot this evening.

"Jack, is everything alright?" It was then Sally noticed her hands. Normally, she could feel Jack's bones beneath one of his shirt, yet this time it was different. She looked down.

Her own eyes widened. She glanced to the right to see a white dress shirt on the floor, having been dropped when Jack reached out to catch her. Now her hands were pressed firmly against the bare bone of Jack's ribcage. Her face flushed, but Sally found herself unable to move. She had never seen Jack like this before. The most casual she had ever seen him, aside from his sleepwear, had been last week. Jack had traded his suit for a baggy short-sleeved T-shirt and sweatpants. She had enjoyed the sight of her beloved's bare arms, and that he felt comfortable enough to dress that way around her, but this… Seeing the full extent of her beloved's well-built torso, having her hands against the smooth bones and his own bare arms holding her closer. Sally felt a whirlwind of emotions overcome her, but she couldn't image how Jack must be feeling.

Jack didn't know how much more he could take. Already his mind and body had been through a great ordeal because of those photographs. Even a cold dip in the rain barrel had barely eased the fire coursing through his bones. He had just finished drying off in the bathroom, and was looking forward to sleeping away the night's stresses. Now he was half dressed and pressing the woman he loved against his bare bones, feeling that fire returning tenfold. This was worse than the time Sally had seen him fall into the water tub after trying to bathe Zero and Mogwai. At least then only part of his bones had been exposed, not half naked! The feeling of her soft arms against ribcage made his bones burn.

Why?! Why had the Fates decided to torment him? Was he still being punished for trying to steal Christmas, or perhaps for leaving Halloween Town to be taken over by that malicious boogieman? Whatever it was, Jack now had another problem. He knew that if he did not release Sally soon, he would not be the only one affected by the burn. He recalled the scorch marks on the couch. The last thing he wanted was to mar his beloved's beautiful skin because he couldn't control himself.

However, he was finding it increasingly difficult to let go. She was so close. His hands held her arms in a firm yet gentle grip, while those delicate hands of hers were on his upper ribs, her fingers pressing into his collarbone.

"S-Sally, I…I…" He wasn't sure what to say. Already his mind brought forth those tantalizing images of her from the photos, creating more heat within in bones. He turned away, hoping by not looking at her he might have a moment to compose himself.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed. Sally knew Jack was being affected by her again. Even something as simple as holding her could have such an impact on him. Part of her thrilled at being able to cause it, but she was sad that he felt the need to look away from her.

Sally reached up and laid her hand on Jack's cheek and eased his face back toward her. It took a little effort before he finally met her eyes again. His eye sockets were always so vibrant and expressive despite their hollowed darkness. Yet, as Sally looked deeper, she could almost see a light. It captivated her, drawing her closer to him. She felt warmth and realized it was coming from Jack. It was as though his very bones were heating from deep within him. It was a familiar warmth. It made her recall some of the nights when she had woken up in his arms after they had fallen asleep. She had never felt cold. It was though Jack was her own personal heater, and right now he felt especially cozy. She wanted to be closer.

"Jack…"

"Y-Yes?" A shiver went down his spine. That breathy way she whispered his name. Already the heat was becoming too intense. He needed to put some distance between them until he could get better control. "Sally, i-if you don't mind, perhaps we could…" He tried to step back. "It's just, well, I'm not myself and–"

"Jack, it's alright, I know what's going on. Will told me you saw the pictures."

"You-You know about th-that?!"

Sally giggled. "Yes and I'm not upset. I'm flattered, actually." She moved her hands to rest on his shoulders, keeping him in place. "You always say sweet things about the outfits I make. This time I was able to have fun trying on something new, something I hadn't made myself. Every time I put something on, I kept thinking about what you might say if you saw me in it. I wondered if you would have liked anything I tried on."

"Sally, you look beautiful in anything, my darling," Jack insisted. "You are so clever and everything you make is just divine. Even if you didn't make it yourself, that wouldn't change how I feel about you. You are what I care about. Not the clothes you wear."

Sally's eyes narrowed with one brow arched, and she gave him a rather coy smile. "Even something bold like what I wore in the pictures?"

"Well, I, um…" Jack thought Sally must be able to see the flames because his bones felt so hot, they must look translucent.

"Oops! Guess that was a little much, wasn't it?" Sally smiled, her arms feeling the extra warmth coming off Jack's hands. She leaned closer and laid her head on his shoulder. "Jack?"

"Sally, I…please, you shouldn't be so close to me right now," he said. "I-I can't, well that is…"

"Jack, it's alright." She turned her head to look up at him. "I know you're still…affected by me, but I told you, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"It's not just that," Jack tried to explain. "I just need some space so that I don't-I don't hurt you."

Sally frowned. "You could never hurt me, Jack."

"Never intentionally, but Sally, right now it is hard for me to, well, to control myself," he continued. "I've said to you before… My emotions have always been tied to my flame, and well…" He was blanching. "There was that one particular photograph of you, the one with the, uh, p-pearls?"

Sally felt herself blush. "Oh! You, you saw that one, huh?"

"Yes…" he admitted. "I'm sorry, but seeing you in that it, well… I couldn't… Oh for goodness, Sally, I could of burned the house down!"

"What?"

Jack sighed, moving his hands to her shoulders and gently pushing her back. "I…I lost control for a couple of seconds…" he trailed off, sockets sheepishly looking down as he fiddled with his hands. "The couch will need to be reupholstered because of me." He looked at her with such remorse in his eye sockets, though it quickly turned to worry and conviction. "The couch is replaceable but you, my dearest friend, are not! I promised I would do everything within my power to keep you from harm."

Jack seem to retreat on himself, the passion from before disappearing again into something sad and subdued. He made himself look centuries older with the small frown on his usually cheerful face. "…Including myself…"

"Oh Jack…" Sally couldn't help as her eyes began to tear. She ran forward and folded her arms around him. She felt him tense, but she tighten her hold. "Don't you know? There's nowhere I feel safer than when I'm with you. You are no danger to me, nor are your flames."

He gently removed her arms from his neck and stepped back, putting a fair amount of distance between them. "I'm not willing to take that risk."

Sally was at a loss. She needed to prove to him that he couldn't harm her. But how to do it? She looked around the room, trying not to stare too long at the view she had of Jack's lean spinal cord. Focusing, she tried again. Perhaps something in here could help. Then her eyes landed on the dresser where Jack's nightclothes were lain out. She suddenly got an idea. Making sure Jack wasn't looking, she grabbed the clothes and disappeared behind the dressing screen.

Meanwhile, Jack kept his eyes on the fireplace. He heard Sally's footsteps but refused to turn around. He didn't blame her for leaving. Once he calmed down, he could be around her again, but he just couldn't risk burning her. Already he could feel the flames within him begin to fade, but the lingering memories were making it very difficult.

He put his hand on the mantle and leaned forward until his skull rested on the radial bone of his forearm. His eyes shut and he focused on the cracking sound of the fire. He just needed a moment.

Suddenly, a pair of soft hands settled over his sternum and ribcage, one hand on his true ribs while the other settled closer to his false ribs. Jack's eyes shot open. His head snapped back. He felt a soft form settle atop his back, pressing into the different grooves of his spine and vertebrae.

"S-Sally? Wha-What are you doing?"

"Showing you there's nothing to worry about," she whispered against his shoulder blade.

Jack trembled. The way she was holding onto him, and her gentle breath on his bones. The heat was returning, but he couldn't move.

"Sally…" he rasped, vertebrae popping from the heat with each soft exhale. His grip on the mantle tighten slowly as the temperature in his bones increased—any higher and he swear he'd start to breathe fire. "For Halloween's sake, you'll be the end of me…"

Sally tittered and nuzzled his spine. "Looks like you didn't need to worry about me after all."

"Sally, love, I'm always goin–" Jack paused. There was something different about Sally's hands. It seemed she had changed into her night attire, for he could see she now wore sleeves, but they weren't the usual cream color. The fabric seemed to be a little longer than usual. In fact, it almost looked like…

Jack craned his neck to peer over his shoulder. He could see Sally's red hair, but she was wearing something else on her head, though he couldn't quite tell what is was. He tried to turn. Sally accommodated him by loosening her hold, moving around until she was facing him. Jack's eyes widened. Sally had changed all right, only she had changed into _his_ pajamas. The long nightshirt wasn't fully buttoned at the top, and bottom hem of it fell to the top of her thighs. Unlike his regular attire, Jack's nightclothes were looser, allowing for more comfort in the evening. Still, the material was rather snug when worn on a more curvaceous physique. And if that weren't enough, now Jack would see that she was also wearing his nightcap.

Jack's sockets widened as he took this lovely sight in, gulping heavily since his phantom heart seemed to have found a new home in his desert dry throat.

"I can't take anymore of this…" He leaned against the mantle, back of his skull meeting the top of it with a slight thump before he clapped a long skeletal hand over his sockets. _Best way to get bested too…_ he thought with a touch of humor, but he had to do his best to keep control—for both their sakes.

Sally smiled in spite of herself. She could see the torment in her love's face, hear it in his groan, but she knew that she had to prove there was no danger in his touch. To do that, she would need to goad him just a little more.

Sally moved closer, seeing how Jack keep his eyes covered and hadn't even moved an inch. She took a breath before she made her move. Carefully, she began to brush her hand up and down his back. She went gently, not wanting to alert him just yet. Jack jolted under her touch, but he didn't move again nor try to stop her. That's when she went for it. Her movements became slower, allowing her fingers to trace long each curve and indent of the individual vertebrae.

Jack's grip on the mantle tightened to a point that he thought he'd split into the stone, his bones—rib cage to be precise—rattled lightly with each trembling breath he tried to maintain. His skeletal brow furrowing in concentration with thoughts of things that would hopefully help calm or distract him from her caresses. However, it was a lost cause to begin with. The blaze in his body was now making itself known in little flashes that would burst into existence, only to be snuffed out just as quickly among his bones. If he were to look at his vice-gripping knuckles, Jack would see for himself the small jets of fire that danced along his fingers like elusive rings.

Once more she felt the heat building from within him, but it wasn't enough. She needed to do something more. Her eyes caught sight of his ribcage. While her finger continued tracing his spine, Sally's other hand ghosted down to Jack's floating ribs. These were more delicate than the other ribs, making them particularly sensitive.

Jack gasped. His eye sockets snapping open yet unseeing for all but a few moments before he lost his footing, his hold on the mantle and long arms were the only things saving him from completely kneeling on the carpet. Jack breathed, that's all he could do really. He took in unsteady breath after breath, waiting for his ever pounding heart to try to at least return to a pace that didn't feel like a heart attack. The fire on his fingers burned into existence along the whole length of each arm, stopping at the socket connecting them to his shoulders.

Sally took a sharp breath. She had been startled when they started to fall. She clung to him, her face pressing into his sternum. When they stopped moving, she opened her eyes to find Jack's arm completely engulfed in fire. The blaze startled her at first. She was always cautious around fire, but this time she found herself mesmerized. The way the golden light danced long his arms was enchanting, and the heat emanating from his torso was incredibly warm.

"Sally."

"Yes?" She couldn't draw her gaze away.

"Darling, I'm begging you…" Jack pleaded huskily. "Please move away while you still can." The tone of his voice was reflected in his sockets as he looked down at her entranced eyes _._

The silence was broken by the low crackling of the fireplace and his Pumpkin Fire. Sally watched as the flames trailed over his bones, reaching his skull. She guessed that he was doing what he still could to keep the flames away from his torso.

 _Maybe he's right, maybe this was a mistake_ , she thought. _I shouldn't be teasing him like this. If I do get hurt, Jack would never forgive himself. And I could never forgive myself for doing it to him._

However, something caught her eye. Her gaze traveled to something behind Jack's back. It was a ribbon, one of Jack's many scaring awards. It had dropped when Jack had fallen back against the mantle. It had caught on a nail and was low enough that if she moved her hand up, she could touch it. Out of curiosity, she tried. The flame beat her to it. The ribbon was consumed into dust, but the flame only danced along her fingertips. Sally blinked in surprise. She turned her gaze back to Jack. He hadn't seen, his eye sockets still pleading with her to leave as he continued to hold himself back.

She smiled. "No."

"Sally–" he begged again, but was silenced by her fingers over his mouth.

"I'm not going anywhere," she told him. "I've tried to tell you that you won't hurt me. Now, I'll show you."

Before Jack could stop her, Sally reached out and took ahold of his hand, interlocking their fingers. Disbelieving sockets stared back and forth between their joined hands and the petite hand on his mouth. The flames now dancing on many of his bones licked against his future bride's skin and stitches without causing harm. No blacked skin, burning leaves, or smoking stitches.

Jack let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He loosened his grip on the mantle and ended on his knees in relief, pulling Sally down with him as his whole body eased from the tension.

Sally smiled. "See," she teased, moving to sit in front of him. "I told you that you could never hurt me."

"Once again, you've proven me wrong, my clever Sally. When will I learn to listen to you?" He chuckled. The flames tempered as Jack allowed himself to relax.

"It's alright, Jack, but now that we know your flames won't hurt me…" Sally bit her lip. She had already pushed him pretty far. Could she dare to push one more time?

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"Well, I was wondering." She slipped her hand from his and wound her arms around his neck. She noted that sparked his flames again. "Would you hold me?"

He gulped. "A-Are you sure?"

"Mmm-hmm." Sally nodded. "Please?"

Now how could he refuse her when she looked at him like that? Eyes fluttering, that pleading tone in her voice, and her lips—full and red and pouting, begging him for something so simple.

Jack sighed dramatically then pulled her into his arms.

"You tempt me and tease me into a blaze, steal my shirt and cap to show me that they have a much more alluring appeal and use, and you now flutter your eyes at me?" He chuckled, eye sockets narrowing in suspicion with a playful smile on his lips. "You certainly have this King wrapped around your finger, don't you, dearest?"

Sally giggled, cuddling closer. She moved her hands back to his chest and began tracing circles on his sternum.

"I don't know about that," she replied coyly. "After all, you've had quite a way of hypnotizing me as well, my Pumpkin King. Something about this look on you appears to be having an affect on me as much as my wearing your shirt has on you."

"Yes, well…" He quickly coughed much to the giggled delight of a certain doll, voice having cracked at her kittenish use of his title—and the tracing, can't forget the tracing!

"What could you possibly mean by that, Babydoll?" he continued, now in a deeper rumble of a tone that betrayed the false cluelessness behind the question. The expression on his skull did nothing to hide the baritone either, his sockets portrayed the deep seated curiosity of wanting to understand a most perplexing theory, but his mouth was turned up in a crooked smirk. "I fear," he purred deeply, "that I'm a tad lost."

Now that his worries had mostly been laid to rest, Jack wholly embraced the desire and cheek reflected at him with his very own bottled up interest.

 _Why, it'd be a crime more grave than stealing Christmas if I didn't, now won't it?_ he thought, which prompted him to let his hands slide purposely slow down the shirt-stealing temptress's shapely hips.

It was taking a tremendous amount of willpower not to give in to Jack's teasing. The nickname was certainly a first, and while both flirtatious and rather cute, it was nothing to the feeling she got from his hands.

 _He's never gone that low before_ , she thought. _Was this what my touches were doing to him?_ Well, she wasn't about to be outdone. And since she was already playing with fire…

"I think you know exactly what I mean, Bone Daddy, considering where your hands are," Sally said, making her voice low and sensual. "You know, you've tried to be very sneaky about it, but don't think that I haven't noticed that you've been having quite the fascination with my legs as of late. I've caught you staring many times, though I chose not to say anything…until now."

She began to caress his shoulders and ribcage, moving her hands over the individual bones, purposely going slower on the ones she knew were particularly sensitive. She was even so bold as to reach inside. Not enough to extend through to his spine, but just enough to tease him to madness.

It clearly showed as Jack groaned lowly then laughed, the breath stolen from him at such a new yet terribly addicting touch. His hands squeezed her hips reflexively at each caress, strength varying with the level of sensitivity he felt. The current feeling of her hands in his ribcage made him knead the tips of his fingers in a little deeper.

He hissed throatily, inhaling through pointed teeth as another deep laugh escaped him. "And here I thought I was the incorrigible one…"

Sally smiled wickedly. She then leaned forward and brushed her lips over his neck, making him shiver. His reaction encouraged her to to press a trail of kisses, starting at the base of his neck and up to the underside of his jaw. Jack hissed and groaned out her name as she made her kisses slower, loving how his arms tightened around her sides, and the heat of his flames became warmer with each of her touches.

She smiled into the kisses, recalling a similar scenario during their rendezvous in the cage on St. Patrick's Day. How he teased her mercilessly in the dark. The feel of his boney lips caressing her skin, nipping at the stitches along her neck and shoulders. It had been a wonder she hadn't burst at the seams.

Jack felt his mind grow foggier as he gasped breathlessly at a certain spot just under his jaw that Sally nipped at suddenly before soothingly kissing it. She whispered his name with a breathy purr that sent a chill up his spine. It fed the fire in his bones. He was still amazed that his Pumpkin Fire did not burn Sally's cloth skin. Instead, it seemed to engulf her in a golden blanket of light. The feeling was indescribable, but it was nothing compared to how he was holding her.

Now that he had stopped his senseless worrying, he could focus on the feeling of Sally pressed against his bare bones. She was cuddled into him, and though she was covered, Jack found he could feel some of her seams through the material of his nightshirt. He began absentmindedly tracing some of the stitching on her back and shoulders, nuzzling the top of her head as he did so.

Sally was in a state of bliss. The flames were not burning, but instead surrounding her in a cocoon of warmth. The feeling was like nothing she had ever felt before. It wasn't just heat from the Pumpkin Fire. These flames came from the love Jack felt for her, as though she was being encompassed by all that Jack felt for her. The feeling only intensified when she felt Jack trace the seams along her back. It sent a pleasant shiver throughout her being. She didn't even know how he had managed to find them, though she was far from complaining. She could feel each touch, his long dexterous fingers tender and gentle as they explored the different dips in her seams, and when he got to a particularly intricate seam that dipped in between her shoulder blades—Sally melted, her knees nearly giving out that she clung all the more to her fiancé, pressing her chest solidly against his skeletal one.

Jack jolted at the immediate contact, though he found it not at all unpleasant, and instead buried his face in her hair where he tucked away the sound of her surprised moan deep within his memory. He hadn't expected her to be so sensitive by the caress to her back. He remembered how wonderful her fingers had felt along his spine, and he had been curious about the hidden seams on his ladylove's vertebral column. But to hear her make that sound, to mewl like that, all from his hand tracing her back?

Jack smiled lazily into her hair, having a wicked thought about that lovely sound, and wanting, _needing_ to hear it again. He continued with his explorations, tracing seams and caressing soft skin hidden beneath the fabric of his stolen shirt. His hands made a trail all the way from the back of her shoulders, the lovely expanse of her back, the top of her decedent hips, and finally a few inches dangerously close to what would be the base of her spine. Those last few inches… So tempting…terribly horribly tempting, but Jack didn't dare cross into that territory without Sally's say-so.

Sally couldn't take it anymore. She leaned up on her knees and pressed her mouth to his. She moaned as Jack's hand came up to tangle in her hair. She responded by running her hands over his skull. She remembered the certain seam along the back that would make him shudder whenever she massaged his head. Now as she gently ran her hands along it, Jack hummed low in his throat in approval, almost like a purr as he pulled her closer. Suddenly, she felt like they were falling.

Jack sprung into action the moment he felt the shift in their balance, his arms springing out and firmly slapping his skeletal palms on the floor. Luckily, Sally was still holding on to the back of his skull and shoulders so he needn't worry about her falling off. They pulled apart, completely breathless. Jack's fire had finally tempered, but his stop of their dissent ended with the two of them staring each other in the eye. Jack braced himself on his arms and knees while Sally held onto him for support, leaning backwards on her own knees. A very precarious position indeed as they spent all but a few seconds staring in surprises before smiling lovingly at their dearest friend, and softly laughing at all that had happened.

Jack laughed, feeling so refreshed and free compared to all the worry and embarrassment he felt before.

"Hello, Sally…" he greeted with a happy sigh, his good mood adding another chuckle at the end of that exhale. Sockets gazing down upon her with so much love and a smile, small and tender, on his mouth.

"Hello yourself," she greeted back. "I think we may have gotten a little carried away."

"Well, you know how stubborn I can be once I get an idea in my skull," Jack laughed. "Getting carried away was just the motivation I needed to just over it, and speaking of getting carried away…"

Jack's sockets openly soaked in the sight of Sally posed rather provocatively under him. Her knees spread to help him with supporting her—nonexistent, if you asked Jack—weight did nothing to stop his shirt from riding up a bit more, exposing her legs up to the top of her thighs. The way she arched her back up to hold him closer caused the pale fabric to stretch across her chest more, outlining the womanly shape underneath a bit and teasing him with a more generous view thanks to the buttons she had left undone.

Jack barely bit back a groan of need, even going so far as to close his sockets for a moment. It only burned the wondrous sight into his brain.

"We might want to move somewhere a bit more…comfortable?" he suggested, eye remaining closed.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because I'm only dreading all the more the wait until our wedding night with every second that passes," he rasped huskily, desire showing through his sockets again with no hinderance or hesitation.

"Well then," Sally flirted back, matching him with a desirous gaze all her own. "We should remedy that." She removed her hand to toy with the buttons on her borrowed shirt. She looked up at him with hooded eyes, a sultry smile playing on her lips. "Our wedding is still so far away. Poor dear. We've been trying so hard not to tempt one another, yet tonight we've both been just a little naughty. You sneaking a glance at those pictures, and then I go to further tease you."

Jack growled, smirking toothily. "So mean to me with your teasing too, whatever will I do?"

"What indeed?" Sally pushed herself up, placing a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. She then arched her spine, making it crack, and released a moan the sounded something between pleasure and pain—something that sent a hot chill up Jack's own spine.

"But you're right, my dearest. This is getting terribly uncomfortable. Moving sounds splendid," she whispered over his lips. "And just where do you suggest we move to, my devilishly handsome fiancé?"

"Hmmm…" Jack made a big show of carefully thinking over her question, even looking up in thought with narrowed sockets. He tapped a single, long finger to his pursed skeletal lips.

"Your bed is always nice, but then we'd have to walk all the way down the hall," he lamented theatrically, a pitiful look in his eyes as he pouted. "Plus, I don't think I could possibly focus enough not to trip with all these questions in my skull." It was hard for Jack not to break character and smile at Sally's attempts to not laugh at his silliness.

"Oh, it would be truly dreadful," Sally added, enjoying their little game. "Questions? My dearest Jack has questions? Would you care to tell me about them? Perhaps–" She stroked her finger over the cervical vertebrae at the base of his skull. "–there's something I can do to help? Maybe I could even make a small suggestion to our…predicament?"

"Well I don't know, my stitched seductress," Jack purred. He spoke like the gentleman he was, but his hands spoke of other things. He currently had one hand stroking down her covered back, again dangerously close to brushing his searching fingers past the base of her spine. However, the other was taking its time tracing a seam peeking out from under the hem of his shirt. It started high up the exposed area of her left thigh and sloped diagonally down the outside before curving off to the back of her knee.

"They may come off as terribly terribly forward, and I would never want to put you in an awkward position."

Sally's breath hitched. He certainly knew how to find just the right seams. "I think," she said through a gasp, "we're passed that, don't you?"

"Oh!" Jack chuckled throatily, leaning in close, and turning his skull so that he was a hair's width away from the crook of Sally's neck. "Most certainly…"

He breathed against her skin, not missing how her own breath hitched again or the shiver that ran through her body. He felt it under his hands, fueling his interest to see it happen again. To have made someone shiver in fright was something that Jack was far too use to, but to have made his lover—his Sally—shiver in delight was something Jack found to be exceptionally more satisfying and addicting. He felt daring, masculine, desired, and it was all at the hands of his lover…his Sally…his Queen… So of course Jack was going to return all that love and passion and cheek tenfold!

He smiled wolfishly, barely brushing his mouth against the side of her neck in a maddeningly slow pace.

"So I doubt you'd be passionately–" He punctuated the word by fervidly giving her thigh another squeeze, fingers lingering before caressing down to the back of her knee again where they then stayed. "–against the idea of me sharing my thoughts and questions with you from the comfort of my bed, which just happens to be behind us, my sweetest nightmare?"

What this man's fingers could do to her! She almost didn't hear what he was asking of her. She tried to clear her mind, which was becoming increasingly difficult. Sally bit her lip, both trying not to moan or laugh. Unbeknownst to Jack, the area behind her knee was particularly sensitive, and while the caress was very sensual, it was also horribly ticklish.

"I-I'm sorry, Jack." She tried not to laugh. "What-What did you s-say?"

Blinking in surprise, Jack straighten up and temporarily set aside thoughts of passion for good old-fashion curiosity and inquisitive investigation. He knew he hadn't said anything humorous, nor had he done anything silly to get her to laugh at his antics, unless…

He glanced down at his hands. The left one was still low on her back, meaning that it wasn't anywhere near her metaphoric ribs, which he knew much to her delight and dismay to be very ticklish. That meant that the culprit was his right hand, which was currently resting against the back of her knee.

"Oh Sally, my dearest darling doll…" he practically sang, a wide skeleton grin on his face as he gave an experimental wiggle of his fingers. "You never told me that you're also ticklish under those pretty little knees of yours."

Uh oh! If there was once thing she knew, it was how much Jack loved to tickle her. He had discovered this particular weakness and would exploit it whenever she "reminded" him of it. Now, seeing that wicked glint in his socket, Sally knew what finding this hidden tickle spot would lead to.

She tried not to laugh as he tested his hypothesis, but is was extremely difficult. The tips of his fingers were featherlight over her sensitive skin and when he would move over to a new seam…

"W-Well…it never came up before…" she squeaked. She tried to move back but their current position left her trapped. "D-Didn't you say you had some questions, Jack?"

Jack knew she was trying to divert his attention, and while a valid effort, he wanted to have his own bit of fun. He grinned wickedly as he shifted his legs around so that he was seated Indian-style, easily plucking her up, and then depositing his precious cargo in the cradle that his legs formed. He did it all so quickly that he couldn't help but laugh a bit at the surprised flush on her face.

"Nice try, Babydoll, but you're not getting out of this one so easily," he mock-threaten. His right hand grabbed the back of her knee again while his left wrapped itself around her waist so she couldn't escape. "Consider this payback for all that teasing from earlier!" He cackled in delight as he proceeded to tickle her, the fingers of his left hand joining in by getting the sensitive area around her ribs.

"N-NO!" Sally squealed and wriggled about. It was no use. Jack had her trapped. "Ahaha! N-No, st-stop, stop!"

Jack held on tight as she wiggled and thrashed about like a fish out of water, laughing heartily along with each squeak, hiccup and new burst of laughter. He mimicked the skitter of spiders and tossed in a playful poke here and there along her stitches.

"Not until you confess to your crimes of teasing the Pumpkin King in the most delightfully dreadful way that any voluptuous woman can!"

Sally tried to push his hands away, but Jack was too quick for her. She knew there was only one way out of this. But that mean she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Oh, you-you w-win!" she laughed, trying her best to talk. "I-I admit i-it. I, S-Sally, mer-mer-mercilessly t-teased my-my fi-fiancé to-to-to…" She laughed so hard her body felt ready to drop, but Jack pulled her back, only to find a new place to tickle her.

She cracked open one eye in an attempt to look at him. "But how-how w-was I supposed to-to kn-know that you-that you… H-Honestly! I n-never imagined th-that you'd react like-like th-that!"

Jack continued mercilessly, still mock chiding her though it was starting to get hard to tickle, hold on through all the escape attempts, and block her hands from returning the favor or stopping his.

"And not to mention the cheek! You knew exactly what you were doing to your poor King—such disrespect, you cunning vixen!"

"Oh-ho, th-that's me alright!" She challenged, though it was hard through her immense giggle fit. "N-Not t-two months be-before our w-wedding, and-and know-knowing the tremendous stress my King has-has b-been under, I-I decide to-to t-tempt him. T-tease him. Drive him mad with desire…"

Jack eased up from delivering his current brand of "torture" once Sally had breathlessly confessed. He had stopped running his hand up and down her knee to her ankle, stopping dangerously high on her thigh when she started saying that. Even through a fit of laughter, her voice had gotten more passionate and entrancing. What that tone did to his bones… His tickles became loving strokes down her waist, ending with gently squeezing her hip.

 _Tempt me? Tease me? Drive me mad with…with…_ Jack could start to feel the fire burning within his marrow again. _Is she trying to burn our house down?_ he thought with a mix of humor and slight disbelief. _Or is she playing with me again?_

Jack lowered his sockets to where his hand still rested on her thigh. He slowly eased it back down to her knee, teasing the ticklish spot once more before coming to rest underneath her calf.

 _Let her think she's won for now._ Jack leaned down and brushed his lips over her knee. _Then…_ He continued to ghost his mouth along the stitches that encircled her knee, all the while hiding the sight of his pointed teeth peeking out from behind his skeletal lips.

 _We'll see who wins this war…_ he promised to himself and quickly lifted her leg up just high enough where he could see the area where her knee connected to her thigh.

Jack looked up at her since he had to lean down just a tad to comfortably access the area without pushing too far into certain boundaries, sockets dark and secretive just before sinking his teeth into that soft skin. Jack made sure that he kept it gentle as not to harm, yet strong enough that she would feel the ghost of it even after tonight. Once touched by his rows of fangs, Jack gave a soft suck and kissed his mark tenderly, never once breaking eye contact.

Sally gasped. Jack certainly had never done _that_ before! Kissing her neck and knee had been one thing. The seductive sensation of his boney lips grazing her skin, tender and sweet, even giving attention to each individual stitch. But this! Oh, she had never thought a bite could cause such a thrill. It hurt a little, but then she felt his lips again, trying to ease the pain. His hot breath on her skin only added to her desire to be closer to him.

All the while his gaze was locked on her. She couldn't pull away from the darkness looking out at her from those sockets. Her whole body felt ready to burst from the intensity. Her breath was getting shallow, and her heartbeat was threatening to pound its way out of her chest. Clearly he was seeing the affect this had on her.

"Ohh…Jack…" Sally groaned, her voice breathless. "Don't stop…"

She could feel the smirk on Jack's lips as he continued tormenting her with his vampiric kiss. Then he moved, tenderly bringing up her other leg, and easing it forward to cross over its freshly bitten twin. Completely confident he had her under his spell, he closed his sockets as he repeated his love bite.

However, while he had her dazed from his amorous ministrations, Jack in his complete focus on her other knee unknowingly left his skull and neck wide open.

Sally made her move.

Reaching over, causing her knee to press further against his lips, Sally began to walk her fingers along his spine. She started toward the lower lumbar vertebrae and worked her way slowly up up the vertebral column.

Jack stopped, silent as the grave, and focusing on her and only her as he waited. Tiny glowing embers appearing like fingerprints followed the trail she left behind.

Sally drew back to the lumbar vertebrae again, this time using a single finger to trace upward along the thoracic vertebrae, pressing her nail along his exposed spine.

Jack's lips hovered over where he had previously released her skin. A low, long rumble from deep within his chest escaped out his throat, the sound of pain and pleasure accompanied by the _pops_ and _clicks_ of his spine reacting to her touch. A small plume of red fire came forth as he exhaled deeply from his nasal sockets. He continued to stare, though his sockets were helplessly half lidded in response to her actions

Smiling victoriously, Sally then leaned closer and gently, softly blew on his neck. "Now who's committing crimes of being a tease, you sexy skeleton," she whispered before biting down on his vertebra prominens.

Jack bolted up, gasping while a loud, chilling rattle echoed in the room from his body.

That's when Sally moved in. She took ahold of his jaw and turned his head up to draw him into a heated kiss, moaning into his open mouth, sharing her breath and tasting the fire in his. She smiled into the kiss.

 _Bet he wasn't expecting that,_ Sally thought, further taking the lead. Deciding to go bolder, she traced her tongue along his lips, occasionally flicking his pointed teeth. She pulled him closer, the hand on his jaw sliding up to hold the back of his skull as the other hand grabbed onto the base of his neck.

Jack felt like he'd collapse in on himself at any moment. He felt his bones ignite all over again as the heat steadily grew stronger and stronger with each impassioned word, wanton kiss, and downright sadistic brush of her tongue. It triggered to the sudden combustion straight down his spine, a fire so bright and long that it whipped behind the Pumpkin King like a fearsome tail for a moment or two before finally settling down enough, was the heated honey that coated her voice and tongue when she playfully accused him of being just as guilty as she. Then she bit him with devil red lips and the ability to fathom thought left him completely alone in his internal inferno.

His last thought before those teeth and sinful lips clamped down, _There is no path of return from this point on…_

Sally pulled back, enjoying how surprised and utterly breathless her beloved was. The expression on his face was adorable. His eyes were half-lidded with desire and his lips were pulled back in a dorky grin. He had completely melted and all because of her.

She giggled. "…Though it all started because a certain inquisitive skeleton was being very–" She put her hand under his chin, drawing him close to nuzzle her nose with his nose socket. "–nosy."

Jack hummed and chuckled dreamily, enjoying the simple sweetness of an Eskimo kiss in his love drugged state. "But how was I to know that such a fantastic find was among those more innocent shots, my darling? I could only assume that the rest would be more or less the same," he lazily defended his case with another chuckle.

"Oh, don't deny it, you wicked thing," she purred, drawing him closer, teasing his lips with small kisses between her words. "You could've put the phone away…when you saw just what kind of…pictures were on there. Instead…you just kept looking…and looking…and looking. If you really wanted to see…"

She kissed him deeply, overlapping their lips before she sucked and nipped his bottom lip. "… All you had to do was ask."

Jack groaned out loud, breathing in slow and deep, and swallowed thickly before finding his voice again.

"Sweet Samhain…you're going to be the death of me…" He chuckled again, a deliriously happy sort of sound. He peeked out of a single eye socket at her, having closed them before when regaining his breath. "You do know that I'm going to hold you to that offer, you vixen, and that I'll more than happily return the favor?" That single, half-mast socket seem to glitter with mischief and sensuality within its darkness.

"Well, then I guess there's just one thing left to say…" Sally cooed, fluttering her eyelashes and pouting her slightly swollen lips. "Jack… Take me to bed, please?"

Jack lovingly smiled at her before leaning down to peck those pouting lips.

"As you wish, my Sally." He gently worked his hands under her back and knees, though his fingers brushed against his love bites from before. He wiggled his brow impishly at her, earning him a good natured roll of her eyes and a coy giggle. This made it all the more priceless when she looked so surprised at the wide skeleton grin that sprout across his skull just seconds before she was tossed over his shoulder. He laughed happily at her short shriek, feeling terribly mischievous.

"You alright, darling?" Biting back more laughter, though his shoulders did shake a bit as he began to walk over to his bed.

"Jack Skellington, you are positively despicable!" Sally shouted. She couldn't get the grin off her face. They had certainly gotten friskier than usual, but she wasn't about to complain. This side of Jack was hardly one she ever got to see. He was confident, strong, and dominant in a way she was finding incredibly attractive.

"And you're incorrigible," Jack replied with a smirk, "so that must mean we're without a doubt made for each other." And with that cheeky statement, Jack easily tossed Sally on the bed—having gotten a more spacious one shortly after they started sleeping over in each others' rooms—and deftly caught one of the pillows she launched at him in retaliation. He looked at the supposed weapon in his hand with a narrowed brow, and turned to look at her with the same expression.

He tsked. "Naughty, naughty, Sally love. Now that wasn't very nice to do to the poor pillow."

"Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black," she quipped. "My legs would say you've been far more naughty than I, my dearest Jack."

"Yes, but your legs didn't kick or launch themselves at me, so I doubt either lovely limb had the desire to disapprove of my actions," he confidently argued, keeping his sockets on her as he moved around the bed. Then he motioned for her to scoot back up as he lifted the covers away from the mattress.

Sally rolled her eyes and blew a strand of hair from her face. "Perhaps they didn't because any protest would have ended with kicking you in the face. And I could never hurt you, Jack, even if it were an accident. No one would let me hear the end of it," she said, feigning a dramatic sigh. "Why, imagine it? Rag doll injures beloved Pumpkin King during a fit of passion. Townsfolk outraged by the injustice to their beloved ruler, and run the her out of town."

Jack laughed at that. "Yes, but would the town suspect that said injured King would be secretly hiding such a fugitive within his own home?" Jack smirked thoughtfully, a single skeletal finger crooked near his mouth added more to his theatrics as he sat down opposite to her on the bed.

"And of course it goes without saying that they will find out that their King has found his Queen in the femme fatal…" he trailed off before shaking his skull and sighing dramatically. "Though knowing how the townsfolk can be oblivious to anything outside Halloween and the addition of the other Holidays, it might take until their King and newly appointed Queen are walking down the aisle…"

"Oh!" Sally crawled over and covered his mouth with her hand. "That's enough out of you, Mr. Skellington."

His laughter muffled, Jack gazed warmly at Sally as he turned towards her and crawled the short distance separating them. He stopped right beside her and sat, still holding that adorning gaze while his hand gently wrapped around hers, and pressed it more against his mouth as he tenderly kissed her palm.

Jack just let everything soak in and he couldn't help but smile at all of what had happened on this crazy day. How it had all begun with some lighthearted mischief involving a midnight trip to the Living Realm, a couple rounds of dress-up, a misplaced camera phone, a few temperature-spiking photos, worry and passion, and finally ended with them more open to expressing their deepest desires. It was both terribly funny and such a relief.

Sally giggled as he continued to kiss her palm. "You're too much," she said, "but I love that about you." She pulled her hand away and caressed his cheek, letting her thumb trace his bottom lip. "Tonight has certainly been…unexpected, wouldn't you say?"

Jack hummed in agreement and quickly kissed her thumb.

"Yes, it certainly has," he answered and slipped his hands under the covers, pulling the quilt and sheets down and opened his arms to her. He laced his fingers with hers while she crawled into his embrace.

"And I love you and everything about you, Sally." Jack finished pulling up the covers over their curled up bodies and then wrapped an arm around her, his fingers brushing the back of her hair as he re-laced their fingers again. He planted a kiss between her eyes, feeling her lashes flutter against his face, and rested his skull to her forehead.

A few seconds of silence passed with the light sounds of the fireplace and the manor settling for the night filling the intervals. Jack tilted his skull down and began delicately grazing his lips across her forehead, over her eyelids, down the length of her petite nose, along her cheeks, and finally her red lips that he pressed kisses as soft as moth wings to again and again and again, even between the words he began to speak.

"Sally… I never thought I could ever love someone as much as I love you." He pulled back from her lips and gazed sincerely into her eyes. "I never thought I'd have a chance to experience something as wonderful as this since I removed myself from the romantic scene many many years ago. I ended up putting all focus in honing my craft, and when I finally became King, I focused on all my duties and promises to make Halloween as terrifying and fun as possible…"

Jack's expression became a bit bemused and thoughtful at the truth behind all that he was saying. "I just never went back to dating because I came out more disappointed or uninterested in the women who vide for my attention…" He frowned in disgust as more unpleasant memories surfaced, sockets narrowing a little. "Plus, I did have to face the nastier side of fame in some of those women… You start becoming a bit paranoid of who actually sees you as a person, or the reputation you build from all your merits—obviously it became worse when I got my crown..."

Jack deeply sighed and held Sally closer, feeling their legs brush and tangle together that it put another blissful smile on his skull. "But in the end, I'm happy that I didn't go back. Probably would have become a stubborn old beast of a skeleton man and swore off of love completely," he muttered the last part sarcastically, rolling his eye sockets.

Sally laughed. "A beast? Hmm… No, I don't think even I could picture you as a beast. You're much too sweet and kind to be considered a beast. Even if you do tend to bite my stitches every now and again." Jack rascally wiggled his brows and teasingly clicked his fanged jaws at her comment.

"Still…" she continued, giving him a playful shove on the mouth. "Though you may be the all-terrifying Pumpkin King, Master of Fright, Demon of Light. You will always be Jack Skellington, my dearest friend. The kindest, most thoughtful and genteel man who charms the stitches off me just by saying my name. The man I am going to marry in two months, the man I want to spend the rest of all eternity with, and most importantly… The man I love with all my heart."

Jack smiled and kissed the back of her hand, which was still entwined with his, making Sally sigh. This skeleton man knew just what to say and do to make her feel high on Cloud 9. Every day he would find something new that made her fall in love with him all over again. And after tonight, she felt as happy as she had the night he proposed to her.

She opened her eyes to gaze down at her ring. To think she would really be marrying her best friend, and they would be starting a whole new chapter of their lives together. It all seemed too perfect to be real, that any moment she would wake up and be back in her own tower, with this all being nothing more than a wonderful dream. She might have pinched herself, if her legs weren't still stinging from Jack's marks.

Speaking of those… Sally thought over the night's recent turn of events. While she was far from complaining, she couldn't help the small seed of guilt that had been planted. She knew how hard she and Jack had been trying to control themselves. She wondered if they might regret pushing things so far tomorrow? She recalled how Jack had looked so guilty the morning after St. Patrick's Day, how he apologized for leaving her neck peppered with his marks. She hadn't minded, but it was then they agreed to be more careful.

Still, they had their moments of weakness. Tonight had been the closest, yet, it hadn't felt wrong. She wanted nothing more than to be closer to him. Every kiss, every touch. The feeling of his Pumpkin Flame surrounding her in Jack's warmth.

Sally pulled her lip between her teeth. _Will this be another thing we regret, or maybe…_

"Sally?" Jack asked, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Is something the matter?" His brow arched in concern.

"Jack… I've been thinking…" She pulled away from him to lean against the pillows. "Do you think that, maybe, we might've overdone it tonight?" she asked, worrying her lip. "I mean… We did agree to try and keep from going too far until the wedding, but well, after tonight…I…"

"You what, Sally?" Jack gently pressed, turning to lay on his front.

"I don't know…" She sighed, feeling frustrated. "Please understand, I don't regret anything that happened tonight, but after what happened after St. Patrick's Day… I worry you might…"

"I know, Sally, I know. I don't want that either… In all honesty, what do we have to gain from rushing to begin with?" he admitted with a light shrug of his bare, skeletal shoulders.

"Personally, I've always agreed with the belief that anything truly worth doing, needs to be done right for it to be worth it," Jack stated with conviction, sockets reflecting that same firmness. "And if waiting until our wedding is what makes you comfortable then so be it—I'll wait." He promised with her hands in his before blanching softly, smiling a warm yet boyishly shy little smile as he tenderly squeezed her hands again.

"But if…you know, you felt…" he trailed off shyly, letting go of one her hands to rub at the back of his neck self-consciously. "R-Ready to…make love…even before our wedding…then I know that we certainly wouldn't have any regrets come the morning after…"

"Well… I guess that's true…" Sally agreed. "… And yet, what if…" She removed her hand from his grip and fumbled with the buttons on her borrowed shirt, popping one loose.

The action instantly caught Jack's attention. He gulped loudly as the blanch grew, thoughts racing at what her words and action meant for them. "Uhhh Sally," Jack nervously asked, stuttering to his further embarrassment. "What-What are you d-doing?"

Sally felt her face warm but she smiled nonetheless. Her other hand tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear, looking up at him shyly from under her eyelashes. "Well…what happened tonight didn't feel wrong. In fact, it felt…right."

Jack chuckled nervously yet anxious to see what was going to happen. He moved to sit up and scooted a little farther away, pulling at his shirt collar nervously. His finger met only air, but it didn't stop the action as he gulped. "S-Sally…what-what are you s-saying?"

"Well, I've been thinking…" She sat up, keeping a hooded gaze fixated on him. His shirt had slipped when she moved, and was now hanging off her shoulder. Sally made no attempts to move it. "Are you still dreading the wait until our wedding night with every passing second?"

Jack blinked owlishly, cheekbones burning as her exact words registered in his dazed mind. She had just nearly quoted his early statement word for word. "Y-yes?" His voice cracked, making him wince.

"And…what would you have done with me in this bed had we not been interrupted because I got a little ticklish?" she asked, added a flirtatious tone to her voice.

Jack gulped, a small spark igniting by his collarbone. Thoughts containing fantasies of all the arousing possibilities flooded his mind, making him all the more antsy and excited, and quite frankly, turned on. He licked his lips as he did his best to rein in his nerves. "I..well..I'd pr-probably have..dealt with those pesky buttons… W-why? Did you have s-something else in m-mind, Sally?"

Instead of answering him, Sally got on her hands and crawled over to him, a somewhat predatory smile on her face.

 _For Halloween sake, are the Fates tempting me again?_ Jack thought, forcing his eye sockets away from the dangerous view before him. Although another part of his brain howled its approval at her daring vivaciousness and the cat-like glimmer in her eyes that he had seen before politely looking away. His bones practically vibrated with anticipation as he felt her getting closer and closer.

 _Is it possible for me to die of a heart attack without having a physical heart?_

Sally continued her slow crawl. She stopped with her hands on either side of his legs, her body hovering over Jack's lap. The shirt was hanging low on her chest, while the length of it has risen high on her back. She knew what this would do to Jack. She could already see the flames licking his spine. She looked up, her head tilted to one side. Jack was staring at her even as he did his best not to openly marvel at what he could see with each little move she made, his wide sockets blacken with lust before they connected with her own lust-hazed eyes again. She licked her lips, watching as his sockets unblinkingly followed.

 _Well… It's now or never,_ she thought. Using the mattress for leverage, Sally pushed upward so she was near eye level with Jack. She leaned in, touching her lips to his in a ghost of a kiss. Then, she lifted her hand and began tracing his ribcage again, this time teasing through the bones to toy with his spine.

"OH!" Jack gasped in surprise, the sudden pleasure having thrown him from his trance. "S-Sally?" He set his hands on her shoulders. He pushed her back, taking a moment to look at her seriously. "Sally, are you sure?" His sockets beseeching though still dark with want.

He was giving her a chance to stop. He was willing to continue, but only if it was what she wanted. Sally was touched. Now more than ever, she knew.

"I want to be with you, my Jack," she said, no hesitation in her voice. "Only if you're okay with it."

"Darling, I've been wanting you for months and today was borderline torture," he confessed sincerely, though with a rather serious expression that turned into a roguish smile, before he cheekily questioned, "If this is what you truly want, Sally, then what's stopping you?"

Sally smiled. "That's all I needed to hear," she said smiling, then leaned down and kissed his sternum. "Jack…"

"Jack's not in right now, please leave a message sometime next week when he's able to properly think again—Beep!" Jack recited, mimicking the audio from the voice mail feature on the girls' phones. However, their audio samples were rather unimpressive when compared to the sound of the desire-roughen voice of the Pumpkin King currently trying not to ravish said cause of his desire.

Sally giggled, shifting closer until her body pressed against his skeletal frame. She wrapped her arms around his neck, teasing the vertebrae with her fingers. She enjoyed the way Jack shivered under her touch.

"Can I ask you for just one more thing?" she pleaded, fluttering her eyes at him.

Jack groaned deeply, drunkenly opening his eye sockets again, and looked into her eyes. He worked a hand into the hair at the nape of her neck while the other caressed up her leg and boldly grabbed her hip.

"Anything, Babydoll. Just name it and it's yours?"

"Anything huh? Better be careful what you say, Jack," Sally warned, a playful smile on lips. She then surprised him by pushing him down in the mattress. Jack stared up at her with wide sockets as Sally straddled his thin frame. "You might just get it!"

Jack lay there stunned, but then smirked wolfishly with sockets playfully narrowed.

"Believe me, dear vixen, that I'm more than willing to take up whatever you're offering," he purred in that deep rich tone he knew she adored, slowly running his hands up her arms as he chuckled throatily. "Now, what could it be that you so wish to ask of your humble King, my Queen?"

Sally hummed. "I love it when you talk like that…" she said in a breathless whisper. She leaned down and kissed his clavicle bone. "…Jack?"

"Mmmm-yes?" Jack hummed lazily, running his hands savoringly slow up and down the length of her body.

Sally giggled, shifting closer until her body pressed against his skeletal frame, his shirt now hanging off both her shoulders to which Sally made no attempts to adjust. She instead chose to lean up and softly kiss her lover's skeletal lips once more.

"This shirt is very cozy, but it's awfully…tight... I'm afraid this thin cloth won't be enough to keep me warm tonight." She cuddled into his body, touching her head under his jaw to nuzzle his neck. "And Jack… I'm starting to feel cold."

Jack purred and sighed blissfully at her nuzzling, returning it with his own to her beautiful hair. It really was a loveliest shade of Autumn red.

"Poor Babydoll," he tenderly whispered with a pout. "Certainly can't have that…" Then Jack tighten his grip on a surprised Sally's hips and flipped them over, the sight of his beloved pinned underneath him set those little sparks a'blazing again as he leaned down nice and close. He lowered himself on top of her and felt both their heartbeats race at the full body contact, their legs brushing and entangling. One of her shapely legs hitched over the top of his pelvis, and her red hair was spread against the mattress and pillows while his shirt barely clung to her shoulders, exposing what it could against the lower buttons.

He chuckled, the sound huskier than ever, and smiled with all his desire and love showing through as he looked deep into her eyes—only a sliver of space separating their lips.

"Well then, my Sally, allow me to warm you up."


	3. Breakfast Blunder

**AN:** Hehe! Let's just say, when you're a couple and want to have a little... _fun_ , make sure to check the area before doing anything frisky.

* * *

Sally shifted in her sleep. Her mind was starting to wake, but she felt so comfortable. She snuggled into her pillow. _Just a few more minutes_ , she thought.

Then, something caught her attention. Her pillow felt harder than normal. She tried to move but something had her pinned to the bed. Carefully, Sally slid her hand over the pillow under her. A chill made her halt in her actions. The cold made her shiver, drawing the last of her consciousness from sleep. Sally opened her eyes.

The room was dark, the fire gone out sometime late in the night. The small bit of light told her it was nearly dawn. Another small chill made her burrow deeper into the warmth of the blanket. She remembered that the window had come loose during the night, the likely culprit for the fireplace going out. It was too cold to leave the bed, so she surveyed her surroundings from her spot.

Sally knew she was not in her room, she could see that despite the darkness. She was in Jack's room. In Jack's bed. She looked over her shoulder to find herself in Jack's arms. His bare arms!

Sally slipped from his embrace and pushed herself up. Jack turned, still sound asleep, and lay on his front with his head facing the other side. Sally let her eyes roam over her lover's exposed back. His shoulders blades and the bones around his neck displayed small pale, off-white marks. She first thought they were bruises. Looking closer, she could see that the markings were not as gray as the last time she remembered Jack bruising himself, though the ones around his neck were a much darker, ashy-gray than his shoulders. In fact, as she examined them more, they almost looked like… Then she remembered; they were bite marks. _Her_ bite marks.

Looking down, Sally saw Jack wasn't the only one bare. Her hair acted as a covering, though it was a mess and she felt a little sore yet wonderful all at once. She looked down at her own body. Small dark blemishes covered the upper part of her chest and collar. She wondered if her back resembled Jack's. She brushed her hand over her neck and found the area, as well as her shoulders contained similar marks as well. She recalled Jack had been especially eager along where her arteries would have been. Curious, Sally continued to examine her body.

Moving aside her hair, she saw the bite marks continued down the valley of her breasts. She pulled the blanket back to find they continued further. Her cheeks warmed as more marks traced along the curves of her hips, making a trail down to her thighs. Even her inner thigh had not escaped Jack's branding.

 _So last night really did happen. We really…_ The feeling that came over her was overwhelming. She never thought she could feel so loved and cherished. She starting to recall the events of last night.

Jack had been so gentle with her. She remembered how his fingers ran threw her hair, and the way his hands caressed her. It was though he needed to ensure ever inch of her was tended to, right down to the last stitch. And when they came together… Sally could not believe how…how… Oh, words could not even begin to describe how much she loved this man!

She gently looked down at her skeletal lover. He was still asleep, a dreamy smile on his lips.

 _He must be tired after last night_ , she thought with a small chuckle. She leaned down and kissed his cheek, making his sleepy grin widen. Seeing as it was still early, Sally turned so her back was facing him and lowered herself back onto the bed. She then reached behind her and pulled Jack's arm over and scooted back, tucking his arm around her body. In his sleepy state, Jack pulled her closer against him, nuzzling his skull against her back.

Sally sighed. The blissful feeling enveloped her, and she closed her eyes to savor the warmth of Jack's bones pressed to her cloth. She let out a sigh of content and closed her eyes.

Light from the dawn poured into the window, and the crow of the skeletal rooster sounded from the open window. Sally cracked open her eyes and frowned. It was too early to get up.

She wasn't the only one to think so.

A low groan was heard before Sally was startled by a large fireball shooting out the window. A frightened squawk and some kind of clunking sound followed after. She didn't understand until she felt more than heard the deep chuckle against her shoulder.

"That nuisance bird…" Jack murmured sleepily. "Don't get why it can't use someone else's house as its perch…" He yawned impressively, displaying both rows of fangs as he arched his back, joints popping. Jack sighed in satisfaction and proceeded to burrow his skull in Sally's hair.

"Sleep well, my bride…" he lovingly whispered, gently squeezing her waist in hopes of not waking her, and shut his sockets again with a deep, blissful sigh.

Sally giggled. She couldn't help it, he was just too cute! "Jack…" she softly called. "Don't you have a meeting with the Mayor to discuss plans for the Forth of July celebration?"

The abrupt choked snort that Jack let out disturbed the regaining silence of their room, his skull shooting up so fast it would make anyone dizzy if they were in his place.

"Meeting with the Mayor?!" he rapidly questioned, sockets huge in panic as he rifled through his suddenly clear mind. "But that's not until next–" Jack stopped, mouth snapping shut, and shot a dirty look at a certain rag doll who was doing a poor job at hiding her amusement behind a lip-bitten smile.

His brow arched. "Now that wasn't very nice…"

"Sorry, couldn't help it." She giggled. Turning slightly, she leaned over her shoulder and kissed his nose. "Morning, love."

He grumbled, but lost the battle with his smile once she kissed him. Though it didn't stop him from giving her his two cents.

"Oh yes, what a way to wake up. The image of the Mayor with megaphone a'blaring, bursting into my bedroom while I'm naked as the day I was born is exactly what I want my mind stewing up first thing in the morning…" His words droll, but his hands lively with the caresses they gave along her stomach and down her hips. "Plus, add the fact that he'd get an eyeful of the beautiful and very, very bare future Queen in said bed with me."

Jack boldly pressed himself completely against Sally's back after grabbing her hips, relishing the airy gasp she gave from him pulling her back while he moved forward. Removing one hand from her curves, Jack carefully pushed away the locks of hair covering her ear, and placed them behind it as he spoke.

"And personally, I have no desire to share such a heavenly sight with anyone." He growled, forked tongue tasting the spot just underneath her ear.

"Jack… We just woke up!"

"I'm sorry, Sally, but can you really blame me for wanting you?" He laughed, smirking into the open-mouth kisses he lavished upon the spot underneath her ear and following with her jawline.

"Besides, I seem to recall you literally jumping my bones last night quite a few times. Don't tell me that after all that teasing, pressing your body against mine, and popping open button after button was all for show?" Jack taunted cheekily, brow cocked and sockets twinkling in challenge as she peeked at him from over her shoulder.

"Oh, you devil, you're incorrigible." She turned around and pressed her lips to his. She giggled into the kiss as she felt Jack wrap his arms around her and pulled her on top of him. She began kneading his ribs, deepening the kiss while her legs came up to hook around his hipbone.

Jack groaned and chuckled into her kiss, hands massaging her upper back as he held her tighter.

"You're not much better, darling," he growled, catching her lower lip gently between his. "If I'm the Devil, then I guess that makes you my very own fallen angel…" He grinned like the devil himself, and with a hand cupping the back of her head, kissed her passionately.

Sally let him deepen the kiss a tad longer before pulling back, resting her forehead against his. "Jack, as much as I'm enjoying this–" She had to grab his hands, stilling them from their very distracting journey down her hips to her rear. "I should warn you that the window is wide open," she said with a smirk. "So unless you want to risk someone getting quite the show, your majesty, we should really do something about that."

Peeking over Sally's shoulder, Jack shot the seemly innocent window a rather annoyed pout for a few moments before sighing. "Yeah, I guess so…"

He sat up after Sally rolled off of him, though not before she teased him by purposely pressing herself very close on his body that it made his thoughts swim. Jack looked at her longingly, a pitiful pout on his mouth even as he stuck his legs out from under the sheets and swung them over the side.

When she sassily blew a kiss and winked at him, Jack childishly stuck his forked tongue out at her, making her burst out in laughter after throwing the extra quilt at him.

"Oh, so mature," Jack playfully mocked, rolling his eye sockets at her as he wrapped the quilt around himself toga-style, leaving one skeletal shoulder bare.

Sally gave an approving whistle. Jack went with it, strutting over to the window with all the swagger of a prized racehorse. He closed it, turned around, and much to his surprise, Sally was standing at the foot of the bed. She was wrapped in a sheet, hiding the curves he had become well acquainted with last night. He couldn't help but gaze upon her and just marvel at the woman before him.

"Babydoll, what are you doing?"

"Jack, you weren't planning on staying in bed all day, were you?"

"Well…" He grinned crookedly, wagging his brows.

"Never mind." Sally giggled. "I wasn't kidding about the meeting with the Mayor, you know," she continued while searching for her clothes. Her dress was still behind the curtain, but she couldn't find her undergarments. She tried over by the fireplace and under the bed. "Remember, you both agreed to get a head start on them as the wedding would be in June, and with two weeks for our honeymoon, we wouldn't be back in time."

"Yes, now I remember," Jack muttered, snapping his fingers. "Then again, making love to the most beautiful female creature all night is bound to make any man's memory a bit foggy…" He smiled innocently at the look Sally shot him, and taking a page from her book, winked cheekily.

"Oh, I give up!" Sally huffed and walked to the door, holding her dress in one hand while clutching the sheet to her chest with the other. "So, seeing as how we're both up, I'm going to my room to grab a change of clothes, and then I'm going downstairs to make us some breakfast. You can join me whenever you're ready." She grabbed her dress and turning so her back was to him, she let the sheet drop. She tried not to laugh as she slid the dress over her body. She knew Jack was watching, so she went a little slower than usual, even sashaying her hips a little.

Jack groaned and laughed shakily. "I can't tell if I love that dress even more…or if I'm jealous of it."

Once her dress was on, Sally turned to the side and blew Jack another kiss before leaving the room.

"Evil temptress!" Jack called after her and chuckled to himself, shaking his skull of the sexy image burned into his sockets.

Walking over to the tall wardrobe across from his bed, Jack dropped his makeshift toga and began picking out what he needed. He plucked a fresh shirt and dress pants from one of the racks, and opened a pair of drawers for his socks and boxers.

And speaking of boxers… Jack's sockets searched along the floor of his room as he finished buttoning his pants, giving his belt one last tug before getting off his bed. He checked behind some of his furniture and even under the bed and rug, but found nothing. He scratched his skull in thought, sockets drifting upward to ponder where else they could be when he nearly choked on his own laughter.

There on the legs of the metal tarantula chandelier hung his boxers from last night, the spiderweb print making the location especially ironic. What made the scene more comical was the fact that on the next leg over hung Sally's cotton panties.

They had been a little… "hasty" in their need to do away with the last barriers separating them. The passion and anticipation of finally being together as a man and woman had made them erupt in a frenzy of kisses and caresses, moans and bites. Obviously, they hadn't been very mindful of the few bits of clothing they were still wearing—the scattered buttons on the floor and new "decor" on the chandelier were proof of that.

With a mischievous smirk, Jack quickly climbed up on his bed, using it as an extra boost so that the chandelier was in easier reach, and carefully unhooked their underwear. That smirk of his growing all the more as he reflected on the events from last night. The only reason he could figure how exactly their unmentionables had ended up on the light fixture was because a certain doll had blindly thrown them out of the bed after squealing in surprise when he ripped open the shirt—his shirt—that she wore.

Jack hopped off his bed and walked over to the hamper, tossing his boxers into the wicker basket, and was about to throw Sally's in as well, when he paused. He took another look at the garment and couldn't help half smiling as he recalled the first glance he had of them last night. White in color but with thin strips of black—almost a reverse pattern to his own infamous formal attire.

Jack had no idea where she had gotten these. Although Halloween Town did have quite a number of businesses ranging from an inn to a general store, and even a post office—his horrible kingdom did not however have much in clothing unless handmade, ordered by catalog, or through foreign trade.

Suddenly, a very devilish smile crosses his boney lips. He took a quick glance down at the fresh shirt and socks laid out on his bed, and walked out of his room with a rascal's stride towards the stairs.

"Perhaps I'll just have to ask her…"

Meanwhile, outside Skellington Manor, an odd pair was walking up the steps with an excited ghost pup circling them. He led the duo to the house where the smaller of the two use a key to unlock the front door. She held it open so her partner could carry his burden inside without fail.

Zero flew in beside him, happily wagging his sheet. "Arf, arf!"

Will laughed. "Okay Zero. I'm happy to bring you back, but keep it down," she shushed. "Jack and Sally might still be asleep." She then looked to her pack mule. "Alright, hand over the goods."

Puck chuckled. "As you wish, my tiny tyrant." He handed the boxes over to her and watched as she made her way to the kitchen. "You sure this is okay, Will?"

"Don't be such a fraidy-bat," she said, shifting the packages. "Sally gave me permission as long as I wait in the living room for them. Besides, I do really want to apologize to Jack."

Zero and Puck followed after Will as she walked into the kitchen. She set the boxes down and turned back to Puck. "I mean, Jack seemed pretty steamed last night. Maybe Al and I went a little too far."

"Arf!"

"Hey! No need to rub it in, smart guy," Will said. "Besides, I'm here to apologize and make up for going into little sister mode."

Zero huffed and flew up to her side. He nudged his nose against the item she had placed on the table. "Arf?"

"What? It's a peace offering," she explained. "I still can't believe we found the one Starbucks that makes seasonal drinks year-round. Thanks again for the inside tip, Puck."

Puck chuckled. "My pleasure. Truthfully, there are over thirty-five drinks they make special if asked, but I didn't realize no one didn't know about them."

"Lucky we ran into you, literally."

"Yes, that was quite the surprise." Puck chuckled. "I never imagined I'd see both you and Zero in Portland, but once you explained your plan, I was happy to assist."

"Yeah, that was a happy accident, huh?" They both laughed, making Zero roll his eye sockets.

Truthfully, the pup had been happy to go with Will when she suggested getting breakfast for his master and mistress. Jack would love the chance to try something new, and Sally would enjoy something sweet to eat. Will suggested a favorite donut shop of hers, and while they walked, she had accidentally run into the young vampire. Puck had apparently had been visiting relatives and was sent on an errand to purchase the delightful confections as well. Will helped him order, and after dropping of the treats, Puck suggested taking Will to coffee as gratitude for the assist. She complied and also picked up drinks for Jack and Sally. After that, and seeing as Will struggled to carry all her purchases, Puck had kindly offered to help her carry them and to the boy's surprise, Will allowed it.

Zero couldn't help snickering. No matter how much Will denied it, the ghost pup sensed a much stronger bond than friendship between the mortal and vampire. Even now as they playfully bantered back and forth, they seemed to be very close.

"Alright, enough horsing around," Will said. "Unless you want to face the wrath of waking a tired Pumpkin King, help me get everything set out."

As Will unloaded the different cups, Zero perked up and flew out of the room. Will looked up and spotted Sally. "Morning Sleeping Beauty!"

"Oh goodness!" Sally clutched her chest and stared at her in disbelief. "What-What are you doing here?"

"Surprise! I brought coffee." Will help out a cup to Sally. "Your favorite, spiced pumpkin latte," she added, then looked to the other cups. "And I got a Candy Cane Frappuccino for Jack, and I even got Zero a little treat. It's my way of apologizing for getting impish last night. And since Zero had to sleep over, I'm guessing things got a little heated around here too."

"Y-You might say that." Sally felt her face heat up. She really hadn't been expecting company, let alone Will. She tightened her hand around the collar of her robe. She had tried finding something to cover up Jack's love bites, but everything in her wardrobe either was too warm or showed too much. So she had settled on her black satin robe. Not exactly the attire one greets guests in—Will maybe, but certainly not the godson of the Vampire Brothers!

"Apologies Sally, we didn't mean to intrude," Puck said, blushing a little. "If this is a bad time…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just… Well, you've definitely caught me off guard…"

"My fault," Will interrupted. "I might've taken your offer to come over any time a little too literal. I hoped that if you and Jack weren't awake yet, I'd leave my surprise and an apology note."

"Oh Will, that's so sweet of you," Sally said, "but that really wasn't necessary."

"I know but I wanted too. And look, we brought food too!" She pointed to two pink boxes on the table. While the pink color was striking, Sally was curious as to the design featuring illustrations of voodoo priests.

"The smaller one is for you and Jack. If Al found out I went to Voodoo Donuts without her, she'd hunt me down and gut me like a fish," Will continued. "I wasn't sure what to get, so I got you a Diablos Rex and Mexican Hot Chocolate for Jack, and then I thought you'd each love a voodoo doll."

Sally looked up curiously. "Voodoo doll?"

"Yeah, it's their signature donut." Will reached into the other box and pulled out a donut. The top had been given arms and was decorated with a frighten face, and there was a stick poking out of the center. "See! And the inside is filled with a raspberry jelly blood for added effect. That's the best part!"

Puck smirked. "Seems you've had a bit of vampire in you beforehand."

"Oh shush, you!" She swatted his arm. "At least this wasn't my first time to Voodoo Donuts. You thought it was some kind of cult the moment we walked in."

"It seemed like it, but as I said before," Puck explained, "my sister-in-law is the one who sent me out while my brother attended a conference. She only told me I needed to pay with cash, not what ind of decor the place had, or some of the rather vulgarly named pastries they had."

"Whatever. I'm not the one to order an ODB." She smirked and stuck her tongue out him. "Perfect donut for you, old man."

"Hey!"

Sally laughed. "Now Will, that wasn't too nice."

"One, made you laugh, so it was funny," Will said through a smirk. "Two, this vamp's fault he ordered the one thing on the menu called the Old Dirty Bastard. He practically walked into it!"

"Oh, come on! I'm not some disgusting cradle robber," Puck defended.

Sally smiled. Deciding to take pity on him, she walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. As I've told Jack many times, age isn't a number. You're not old, you're timeless."

"Thank you, Sally." Puck turned to Will. "Now I see why you needed such a feast to apologize. You truly are an imp!"

Will snickered and gave him a wink. "Three older brothers, Puck. Being a brat comes natural."

"Honestly, you're almost as bad as Lock, Shock, and Barrel."

"Aaaah! Why you say that?" She cringed. "I'm nothing like those little devils, plus, they've been...better since Jack made them scrape out all the decaying fungus in the Underground Burial Chamber."

Sally laughed. "Oh, believe you me. Those three may have been reformed, but they still get in plenty of mischief. Why just the other day…"

Will tried to listen but as Sally continued to speak, but she noticed that her friend seemed to be touching her neck a lot. She tried to remain upright in her chair too. Will thought it might've been because her robe wasn't tied that tightly, but with the tight hold she had on the collar, Sally wouldn't need to sit so straight. She wanted to ask if Sally was feeling well when Zero nudged her leg. Sally laughed at the pup's plea for attention. When she moved her hand away to pet Zero, Will spotted a large dark spot on the upper part of her friend's neck. It looked like a large bruise and there was another one just below it peeking out from Sally's collar.

"Hey, Sally…" she started today. "I think you got something on your…"

"Babydoll, you'll never guess where I found our underwear."

Will felt her whole face warm while Sally turned around, her eyes widening in horror. Jack strolled casually into the kitchen with a devil-may-care smile on his mouth, one arm crossed behind his back, and loosely swinging a familiar pair of white pinstripe panties on his finger.

"No answer, darling?" he asked, still swinging the pair of lady's underwear on his finger before chuckling. "Let's just say you have quite the arm since I found them hanging from the chandelier."

"JACK!"

"Why Sally, what's the matter? I thought–" Jack opened his eyes…and immediately wished he had never left the bedroom. Before him was Sally in a long, sinfully desirable black robe in a state of a full body blush, a sight that would have stirred him. However, while he had expected to find his blushing bride, he had not expected her to be with guests.

"I…uh…I-I…"

Sally hid her reddening face in her hands. Puck had turned to the side, coughing awkwardly. And then there was Will, trying to look anywhere but at the entrance where Jack was still holding up Sally's underwear. He immediately jammed both hands behind his back, the evidence crumpled from sight as he blanched all the way to his neck and collar bones in humiliating embarrassment.

" _Merde_ …" Jack swore with an awkward attempt at a smile.

No one moved nor spoke. They were too nervous to say anything, hoping someone else would be brave enough to go first. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

Sally couldn't look up from her hands. She could feel the heat from her face on her palms. Under better circumstances, she might have laughed at Jack's little joke. She might have blushed while she laughed, maybe even tried to take back her undergarments from him while he kept them out of her reach. Then she might have kissed him as a distraction, only to lead to a breakfast long forgotten as he swept them back into his room, clothes left behind as they went.

However, now that two of their close friends were sitting in the room to witness, and given that last night had been the first time they had made love; Sally began to wish she had warned Jack about their guests.

On the other end of the room, Puck and Will weren't sure what to do. Will was regretting having come in unannounced. Oh sure, she had seen Jack without a shirt thanks the bath incident last year, but never quite so exposed and so comfortable about it. There was also the matter that both skeleton and rag doll were covered in hickies, and judging by Jack's statement and the fact he had been swinging Sally's underwear… Will felt like her face would explode from how badly she blushed. Suddenly, her earlier statement about things getting "heated" last night took on a whole new meaning.

Not to be left out of the blushing frenzy, Puck was trying to figure out how everyone could still save face. Clearly, he and Will had interrupted a rather private moment between the Pumpkin King and his fiancée. He decided they should probably leave before anything else happened that would cause further embarrassment. Leaning over, he gently placed his hand on Will's shoulder, hoping to quietly suggest they take their leave.

The feeling of a hand on her shoulder caused Will to abruptly stand up, nearly knocking over the pink boxes on the table. "Well… Umm, that happened, so uh… I-I think I'm just gonna grab my Butterbeer Frappuccino and Puck's London Fog, and umm, yeah, I think we're gonna go." She pushed herself out of her chair and walked to the other side of the table. She tried to force a smile as she turned to Sally.

"Sally, great seeing you—we need to talk later," she said, whispering the last part to Sally. She then walked to the doorway. She had a difficult time trying to look the tall skeleton in the eye. "Jack, uh… Yeah, bye!"

Jack had not seen someone race out of a room that fast since he had last been out scaring. Puck also offered a quick farewell, grabbed the forgotten drink cups and one of the boxes before walking out after Will, leaving the Pumpkin King and his bride alone.

Jack wasn't sure what to say and Sally couldn't bring herself to speak either. They were both still in a state of shock and embarrassment.

"In all my six hundred years, I don't think I've ever wished for temporary amnesia…"

Sally peeked through her fingers over at Jack. He was leaning against the wall, his head back, and his eyes shut tight. He looked resigned. She watched as he slid to floor, shoulders slumped as if exhausted from the whole uncomfortable encounter.

Sally took her hands from her face, wondering how to help him. "I'm…sure that this will be something we'll look back and laugh about?" she tried to say. Her encouragement sounded about as believable as someone trying to scare a family of three wearing a couple of old bedsheets.

Jack peeked at her through one eye socket and begrudgingly smiled. "Or, if we play our cards right, we can probably trick those two into thinking it was all some odd shared dream." He pointed at Zero with a snap of his fingers. "Zero, you'll be our star witness."

The ghost dog, who had been hiding under the kitchen table, tilted his head at his master. "Arf?"

"Yup," Jack continued scheming, though there was a note of sarcasm in his voice. "We'll make Will think it was all some very odd dream, probably influenced by some of the more "adventurous" costumes you modeled, and whatever jokes or comments Al made from then to the moment they left yesterday."

"Oh dear. And just how do you plan on managing that?" Sally asked. She knew now from his tone that he was just trying to make light of the whole mortifying situation by being sarcastic.

"Well, who else is clever enough to help me pull off such an elaborate plan, hmm?" Jack smiled charmingly, a gleam in his sockets as he recited a very familiar question. He patted the space next to him on the floor.

Zero floated out from under the table and planted himself across his master's legs. His sheet wagging as he looked up at his mistress with a smile on his muzzle, whining eagerly.

"Tempting, Jack, very tempting," Sally stated. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her robe a little. "Though I think you might've overlooked one thing. How will you explain this to Puck? A vampire is not so easy to fool, you know."

Jack bit his lip in thought then grimaced. "…Ooh, you're right…" he groaned sourly, petting Zero after his fateful pooch had licked his cheekbone in comfort.

"Sorry my love, but there's no other way around this one. You made your bed with that scene, I'm afraid…"

Jack groaned again, the back of his skull bumping the wall behind him as he slumped all the more, mentally reliving the scene from moments ago.

"Came down with the idea to tease and flirt…maybe even convince you to let me play hooky from work today." He sighed, pitching the bridge of his skeletal nose. "That's what I get for acting like a randy teenager." A short self-deprecating chuckle escaped him, before he turned to look at her guiltily.

"Oh Sally, my darling, I can't imagine how you must be feeling. Here I am talking about my embarrassment, but it wasn't _my_ underwear that I paraded around like a house cat with its kill."

"Jack, don't be so hard on yourself. You didn't know." Sally tried to add a little humor, hoping it would cheer him up. "So it was a little embarrassing, but in a way, there was hilarity in it. Besides, it was only Puck and Will. Had it been Al, we might be having a different discussion right now."

"I don't even want to think about the what-if scenario…" Jack grumbled, sockets narrowed in displeasure. "Al is merciless! It would have been a dozen times worse."

"But it wasn't. Don't forget, they were just as…surprised by the, uh, incident," she explained, hoping it would help. "I'll bet one day we can all look back on this and have a good laugh about it."

Jack snorted, staring up at the ceiling. "What I'd give for time travel…"

Sally frowned. She hated to see Jack like this, so unlike his abnormal, happy, mischievous self. If only there was something she could do.

Sally let her eyes roam the kitchen. She wasn't looking for anything in particular when her gaze fell on the far kitchen counter. There sat Jack's old record player and a collection of various music. He had always been a fan of the classic swing and jazz of the 1920s. Perhaps one of his favorite records would cheer him up.

Sally got up from her seat and approach the records. Most of them were by Frank Sinatra—Jack's favorite singer—but there were a few artists Sally didn't recognize. She thumbed through them when one in particular caught her eye. The cover had a pencil sketch of woman with short hair and a gorgeous low cut dress. Sally recognized the outfit as one of the costumes Will had tried on last night. The girls had told her this woman had made herself famous with her music and Sally recalled that Jack had a couple of her records. This particular record had a song with a scat style that Will had sung while wearing the costume.

Suddenly, Sally got an idea and pulled out the record.

Jack continued to absentmindedly pet Zero. He was just about to pick himself up so he could finish getting ready for his meeting with the Mayor when he heard the faint scratch of a needle on vinyl.

The resigned expression on his face disappeared as he perked up with curiosity, sockets blinking as the first notes floated up into the air. Jack looked up curiously to see what his fiancée was up to. His sockets instantly widened as his throat became very dry at the sight before him.

Sally swung sensuously along to the beat. She had one hand on her jutted hip while the other dangled at her side. She waited for the music to build before turning around, a sultry smile on her lips as she looked right at Jack.

 _I want to be loved by you, just you,  
_ _And nobody else but you,  
_ _I want to be loved by you, alone!  
_ _Boop-boop-a-doop!_

She pointed to Jack, giving him a wink before putting both hands on her hips and slowing walking towards him, doing a quickstep to keep in time with the beat.

 _I want to be kissed by you, just you,  
_ _Nobody else but you,  
_ _I want to be kissed by you, alone!_

Sally turned, blowing him a kiss. She let him watch her back while she quickly altered her robe before turning back to face him.

 _Boop-boop, I couldn't aspire,  
_ _To anything higher,  
_ _Than, filled with desire,  
_ _To make you my own!  
_ _Boop-boop-a-doop, boop-boop-a-doop!_

Jack gulped thickly, sockets trained on Sally as a brief spark lit between his shoulders and continued randomly along his ribs. The hands that had previously been petting Zero now rested on the floor, skeletal fingertips curling just enough that they started to look like trembling claws. He swallowed again, watching in excited anticipation. She had fixed her robe so the neckline opened to just under her bust line, and the belt was tightened on her left side.

Sally saw the effect it was having so she went and did a kick. With her robe fastened the way it was, she gave Jack a full view of her entire left leg, strutting about provocatively as she continued to sing and dance along with the song.

 _I want to be loved by you, just you,  
_ _And nobody else but you,  
_ _I want to be loved by you, alone!_

Jack visibly jolted, sparks turning into small flames so quickly that one could hear as they greedily devoured air, the color dancing between reds, orange, and yellows at her daring dance. A small smirk appeared on his mouth at the sight of those legs. The very same that he had kissed, caressed, marked, mapped out, and felt wrapped around him just hours ago. The song not lost to his ears, and making him smile all the more as Sally cooed airy lyric after lyric with sass and confidence in every step.

 _Eat your heart out, Miss Monroe_ , he mused to himself with a lazy huff of a laugh, hungry sockets still taking her in—skin, love bites, stitches, curves, and all. Though his jaw did drop in pained desire when she'd tease him with a short tug of her belt, swinging one end lazily while the flames grew along his spine.

Zero's ears shot straight up at the same sight before he looked up at his master's stupefied face. He snickered since it looked like his jaw might pop off at any moment. Deciding to help him out, Zero bopped his muzzle under his master's lower mandible, sending it up so fast that Jack's jaws snapped shut with a _click_ that shook him out of his daze. He snickered again at the sheepish smile his master gave him and the sound of his mistress's giggles.

Zero was many things, but stupid was certainly not one of them. He recognized a mating dance when he saw one, and he knew exactly what his master and mistress had been up to the night before.

Nonetheless, Zero was happy that they had become a mated pair and if that meant that he'd have to haunt Will's home—where he got treats and pets and belly rubs, and got to play with Mogwai and Whiskey, and even pull a prank or two on Whiskey's mistress—then he'd just have to make the best of it, wouldn't he?

With that, Zero floated up off his legs and winked cheekily at the two before phasing out through the front door as Sally started to sing again.

 _Aa-ah-um! Boop-boop-a-doop!  
_ _Daddle-at-dat-dat-dumb, I couldn't aspire,  
_ _To anything higher,  
_ _Than, filled with desire,  
_ _To make you my own!  
_ _Bup-bum, butle-doodle-dumb-bum!_

Sally moved closer so she was right in front of Jack. She never lost his gaze as she moved along with the music, throwing in turns to give him a more open view of her legs. She then leaned in and pressed her hands on either side of him, her lips a breath away from his. She kept the playful tone as she lowered her voice.

 _I want to be loved by you, just you,  
_ _Nobody else but you,  
_ _I want to be loved by you, a-lup-a-dup-a-dup-a-dup!_

Sally moved his arms back and sat herself down on his lap. She shimmed herself closer as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Before Jack could speak, Sally tapped his nose socket with a finger as she sang the last line of the song.

 _Boop-boop-a-doop!_

Sally smiled triumphantly as Jack groaned, bones rattling in arousal as he gave her a love-drunk look, sockets hooded dreamily. She giggled.

"Now there's my Jack," she quipped, kissing his chin. She lifted her hand to close his mouth. "So Mister… Still letting what happened this morning get to you? Or…" She lowered her hand and traced her finger along his collarbone, eliciting a pleasant shiver from her lover. With a bemused sigh, she began a trail of warm, open mouthed kisses along his neck up the side of his skull where his ear would be if he had one.

"Does my King need me to do…something else…to help him…relax?"

Jack groaned, the sound deep and low from within his chest, before letting out a breathless laugh as he nuzzled the hollow of her neck. Besides, in his absolutely unbiased opinion, it really was a lovely neck. It would be an honest shame not to show it some love.

"You know… I'm feeling a bit saucy this morning…" he husked against her throat, his lips barely feathering her skin and the single line of stitches that crossed the width of her slender neck. It was his turn to smile in triumph as he both felt and heard her moan, her pulse hitching beneath his lips as he tilted his skull, tenderly sucking on those stitches. He was very mindful of his fangs, and only used them to nip and graze the skin bordering the seams.

He pulled back just enough to admire his work, though not before giving the coloring skin one last warm lap, and softly blew on it.

"Mmm… What were you saying, Jack…?" Sally asked, her voice hitched from the feeling of Jack's breath. He certainly seemed to be feeling better thanks to her distraction. And if that meant her skin was subject to more of Jack's tender, and completely sensual mouth caresses, then who was she to complain?

She reached behind him and began to caress the back of Jack's skull, searching for that particularly sensitive seam she had found last night. She recalled the rather fun and interesting "surprise" she received having giving that particular seam attention.

"Would you say it again, please?" she pouted, deciding to tease him further with some nips to his mandible. "I'd like to know how I can help you…in any way I can, my sexy skeleton."

Jack shook then arched into her touch, pushing his skull more into those caressing fingers. His breath growing heavier and quicker with each pull of air he took through his nasal sockets, causing the flames encasing his chest to draw in with each breath. The glow and heat emitting from within could easily be felt and seen through the spaces between Jack's ribs, which pulsed brightly along to the racing beat of his phantom heart. Steadily, the fire climbed up the inside of his thoracic and cervical vertebrae with that same heat and glow spreading with it.

Tilting his skull down, Jack stared at Sally, his sockets not reflecting any of the glow but instead channeling all the heat in a calm stare. He smiled that famous skeleton grin, tilted his skull back again, and opened his mouth just a tad—enough to see a bit of space between those two rows of razor sharp fangs—and breathed.

A brilliant plume of fire rose up high in the air above their heads, a rich mix of reds and orange and yellow that stretched higher until Jack stopped with a simple _click_ of his teeth, the minuscule gap from which the fire came from now gone. The last flames in the air now dying and leaving only heat in its place.

Jack chuckled smoothly, small lines of steam escaping his mouth and nose before dissipating.

"Well," he began casually, completely at ease as if his earlier feelings of shame and embarrassment had been a thing of the past. "I was saying that I am feeling rather–" He chuckled, leisurely walking his right hand up Sally's leg and making it "kick away" the folds of her rope that was blocking his fingers. "– restless."

"Now that was a surprise," she humored him, giggling as she watched the steam curl around his mouth.

She certainly had not been expecting him to spout fire like a dragon. It was incredible to watch, like the time he had done a similar trick during that Halloween festival before the Christmas incident. That had made both her and the audience gasp in delight as the flames teased the crowds. There was just something about how he handled the flames with such ease—hot enough to create a dazzling display, yet the heat never burned those close by, let alone the bones that manipulated them.

She shivering as he toyed with the seams on her thigh. It took everything within her not to laugh. Her seams just had to be sensitive, and terribly ticklish whenever Jack touched them. It was completely unfair. No matter what she tried, Jack's bones were never quite as sensitive. How was it that he could tickle her whenever he pleased, but she could do nothing back? Granted, she didn't mind being tickled now and again, but just once she would've liked to have gotten him back.

Jack's fingers inched higher, causing Sally to bite the inside of her lip so Jack wouldn't notice. The topic would need to change fast unless she wanted to wind up in yet another tickling war.

She reached up and began to softly trace just under her new favorite seam on his skull. "I'm surprised that you did that," she added in flirty tone. "Last time I touched that seam, you literally lost your head."

"Not surprising since you did catch me off guard last night while I was busy mapping out certain stitches…" he replied lazily, leaning again into Sally's caresses.

"I know. You landed on me, remember?" Sally laughed. She pulled back her robe and pointed to a rather large hickey just under the right side of her collar bone. "You gave me this one for laughing then saying you looked rather adorable all bewildered like that."

Jack stuck his forked tongue out at her then snorted, narrowing his sockets at her.

"Yes, well, I was trying to be romantic and masculine and sensual, but that sort of got tossed out the window when you called me cute while I was still wondering and worrying if I'd crossed the line what with my skull basically being against your breasts."

"Considering you ripped the remaining buttons off your own shirt to get to them, I think that line become a mere speck to you," she teased, sticking her own tongue out. She laughed as he blanched and muttered something about "voluptuous rag dolls" and "teasing neck lines" before she moved her hand down over his neck.

"Says the one who yanked my boxers off of me that I'm surprised my legs didn't pop out of their sockets."

Sally laughed and playfully slapped his shoulder. "Oh, you're positively wicked, Jack Skellington!" she squealed. "So, getting back to the present, you mentioned feeling restless, yes?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him with a sweet smile. "I think I might know how to help with that."

"Oh yes, terribly terribly restless—don't know how I'll possibly focus on my meeting," Jack mourned with a pitiful frown. "Perhaps, I could get something to tide me over…" He leaned in for a kiss, only for Sally to place her fingers on his lips.

"I was thinking more along the lines of the breakfast Will brought us before a certain naughty rascal chased her out," she teased. She tapped his nose and removed herself from his lap, much to Jack's disappointment. She looked at him from over her shoulder.

"You may not always need to eat, but I for one am a little peckish," she continued, sitting down at the table. She took the cup with her name on it and then opened the pink box. Then Sally pulled out a round chocolate donut with a chocolate glaze, decorated with red sprinkles and a white pentagram.

"They look tasty. And you should see the others. Will thought you might like these ones. She said they were voodoo dolls."

"What?" Jack got up, curious to what she meant. He walked over and sat down next to her at the table. He peered inside the box and nearly choked on his laughter again. Along with another round donut that appeared to be dusted with a reddish- or yellowish-brown powder, there were two donuts that looked utterly absurd. Both had a chocolate glaze, given "arms," and were each designed with different characteristics.

One was a cyclops with a large blue eye and decorated with purple and orange spots. The pink mouth was drawn into a smile with a little tongue sticking out. Jack picked up the other. This one had two beady eyes and a large red mouth filled with pointed teeth. The middle displayed a blue swirl and just over the "heart" was some sort of stick.

"What is this?" Jack poked at it. "And here I thought humans did this type of thing only around Halloween."

"Apparently they are quite popular, though I suppose they pre-pin the doll so it can be enjoyed without actually causing someone pain."

Jack pulled the little stick out and popped it into his mouth. It was a salted biscuit. Tasty, but there was another flavor. He stuck the tip of his finger into the hole. When he pulled it out, the tip was cover in a red substance. He tasted that too.

"Not bad," Jack stated, looking over the donut. It really was amusing to think someone could use a pastry to hex another person. He decided to try it and took a bite, taking the head clean off. It was childish, but then again, where was the fun in not playing with your themed food? He cackled madly. "Poor bugger didn't see it coming."

Sally was enjoying her pentagram when Jack decapitated his treat. She smiled until she noticed it hadn't been an entirely clean kill. "Jack, you've got some jelly. Right here." She pointed to her own lips as reference.

"Oh oops!" Jack chuckled, smiling in thanks.

Before he could get it, Sally leaned in and kissed him. He felt her tongue lightly trace over his lips. He closed his eyes as she deepen the kiss, seeming intently focused on his lips.

Sally smiled. Jack had already been sweet, but the added sweetness from the raspberry jelly and the chocolate glaze made him taste even sweeter. She pulled back, sucking the last of the jelly from his lip. She smiled impishly.

"Got it," she said before taking a bite of her own treat.

A hazy eye socketed Jack smirked at her, taking a swig of his own coffee, the mix of peppermint and chocolate helped get his voice back.

"Funny, and I thought you suggested breakfast to help with my restlessness–" He tore off one of his donut's arms. "–not reminded me of it." He spoke carefully over his mouthful and swallowed, then popped his blood-soaked fingertips into his mouth to clean them of his kill.

"Well, I hadn't expected you to play with your food, my dearest Jack," she quipped, sipping her own drink. "I forgot that sugar tends to make you rather mischievous. Remember? Those chocolate covered cherries?" The wide toothy grin on his mouth at the mention of those cherries was answer enough in her eyes.

"So looks like I'll have to find another way to help you make it through the day." She took another sip. "Unless…"

Jack quirked his brow. "Unless…?"

Sally placed her hand over his and began tracing circles on the back with her thumb. "If you still wanted to play hooky, then that's up to you," she said lazily. "Far be it that I keep the Pumpkin King from his royal duties. I was actually going to relax and draw up some new sketches this morning. After last night, I think I'll need to make a few…alterations to some of my bridal designs."

She released his hand, finished her breakfast and got up from the table. She raised her hands over her head and stretched her back. She smirked, watching as Jack looked at how her robe adjusted to her position, giving him another view of her leg and bust. She made a little sound as she felt her spine pop.

Jack sat there, a thoughtful expression on his face, his fingers steepled over his mouth while his sockets trailed over Sally again before he peeked at a nearby clock.

A carefree smile on his mouth, Jack stood and stretched, his arms high over his head and fingers entwined as he flexed them outwards. He lightly grunted as the tension released itself with the popping of his joints. He then brought his arms back down and walked over to one of the kitchen windows, rolling his bare shoulders as he did so before opening the window.

Bringing her arms down, Sally watched from the corner of her eye. She hummed at the sight of Jack's arms as he rolled his shoulders. Despite having no muscle, those toned bones were remarkably strong, completely contrasting her lover's reedlike frame. She loved the way they held her tight, whether they were locked in an embrace or when Jack carried her. She was tempted to entangle herself in them while he stood at the window.

 _Patience Sally_ , she told herself. _Don't want to rush and ruin the plan_.

Unbeknownst to her, Jack had a plan of his own. Sticking his head out the window and giving a quick look around. The last thing he needed was for any of the citizens to get curious at the sight of their half naked leader. Jack could see that it was early enough that many of the townsfolk were still within their own homes—most likely just starting their mornings—meaning that it was safe for him to leaning out a bit more. His smile growing at the sight of his kingdom, the rays of the jack-o-lantern sun spilling slow but steadily along the cobblestone streets. It had been quite sometime since he had a chance to appreciate how everything looked at the start of a new day.

He laughed to himself, ducked his head back inside. He began rummaging through one of the kitchen's drawers, and pulled out some spare stationary and a fountain pen

"I knew I left this here for a good reason," he muttered with a pleased grin, easily drafting up a message, and leaned back out of the window.

Sally continued to watch, curious as to what he was up to, but mostly she couldn't keep her hungry eyes off him. Jack had no idea that he was unconsciously showing off his back and front in the most desirable way. As he leaned farther out, she also was reminded just how flexible he was. Sally bit her thumb as she paid special attention to how the morning light showed off his elongated spine, broad shoulder blades and the back of his ribs, not to mention all the hickeys that decorated those bones. She smiled, pleased with her handiwork.

Suddenly, Jack gave a short sharp whistle that pierced the air. A bat soon answering the call, fluttering down from its perch under the manor's tower, and hung from the Pumpkin King's outstretched finger as he ducked back into the kitchen.

"Jack, what're you doing?" she asked, walking up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his chest and laid her chin on his shoulder so she could get a better look.

He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before turning back to the bat, a smile on his skeletal lips as the nocturnal creature gave a mighty yawn then peered up at him and his future Queen.

"It's quite simple, my love. You see, our dear Mayor is notorious for not picking up calls in the morning. He has a tendency of sleeping through the ringing, then having a panic fit once he sees that he also slept through his alarm." Jack chuckled good-naturedly at the absurdity of the rather common occurrence. "Which leads to his usual panicking at the start of the day, and then he pays even less attention since he's in such a rush to get to Town Hall or here."

"Hmm…that makes sense, but I don't see how a bat changes any of that?"

"It's actually quite funny. Although the Mayor can easily sleep through a screaming alarm clock and telephone, he oddly enough awakes up at the faintest sound. Now, this is where our little friend here comes in." Jack chuckled again and pointed at the bat. "The Vampire Brothers have made it a priority to train many of the town's bats to help deliver messages—especially those to the Mayor. This bat will take my rescheduling message to the Mayor's house, tap at his bedroom window, and wake up the Mayor long enough for him to read it after rewarding this little guy for a job well done."

"Well, isn't that clever." Sally reached over and pet the bat's head. "Seeing as it's so early, I do hope the Mayor treats you. If not, I'll make sure there are some tasty mosquitoes waiting for you when you come back."

The bat chirped it's thanks and gave her finger a lick, making Sally smile.

"Well then, little fellow," Jack addressed the bat, an amused smile on his face from seeing how any creature could be charmed by his enchantress. "Let me just fold up the letter and you'll be on your way."

Feeling Sally lazily unwind her arms from around him and pull away, Jack folded the letter twice and gave it to the little bat, who clamped his jaws securely around its delivery.

"If you like, Sally, you can go enjoy the rest of the treats Will got you. I'll join you shortly. I just have to give this little guy the directions to the Mayor's window," Jack offered, peeking at his beloved over his shoulder and giving the bat a scratch between the ears.

Sally laughed. "Alright, whatever you say, your highness." She did a little curtsy and turned back to clean up the table.

Oh, he was definitely getting back at her for that sass.

Turning his attention back to the bat, Jack quickly gave it the information it needed, and then gave it a little toss into the air after it chirped confidently once he finished reciting the directions. He snorted in amusement, closing the window, and then turning to lean against it with his arms crossed at his chest.

"You might want to start getting used to hearing that, Babydoll, since in two months you'll finally be my Pumpkin Queen," he purred out suavely, voice deepening at the last three words.

Sally sat down at the table. She grabbed her donut and looked up at him. "Funny, I distinctly remember that at the last Town Meeting no one had to refer to me as such," she said before she took a bite, finding she got a mouthful of chocolate chips. She swallowed.

"Unless…you were referring the use of that title solely to yourself?" she added, giving him a daring look.

"Oh ho!" Jack exclaimed laughingly, getting up from the window, and stopping just in front of her.

"I may be King, but I'm really a terribly humble skeleton deep down inside of these bones. Though, I will admit, I do take great pride in my work and craft." He smirked, seemingly rubbing his knuckles on an 'invisible shirt' before nonchalantly looking at them. "But that's neither here or there at the moment…"

Jack leaned down, bending forward so that he was now eye socket to eye with Sally, skeleton grin on his face while she blinked innocently back at him.

"Oh, I know the pride you take in what you do, my love." She giggled. She broke eye contact and was about to take another bite when she said, "You made that very clear last night."

"You're one to talk, you vixen," Jack bantered, smirking crookedly. "Don't think I haven't felt your eyes raking over your artwork that you so graciously bestowed upon nearly every inch of me."

"Touché."

"You started it." Jack leaned in, tongue and lips curling around a stray chocolate chip near her bottom lip.

Sally hummed, nipping his lip when he pulled back, a mere inch from her face. "I guess I did, didn't I?" She stroked her finger over her donut, getting a generous portion of frosting on the tip.

"First with that scandalous picture." She looked at her finger.

"Then I tempt you tremendously by wearing only your nightshirt, leading up to our first, long night of passion together." She brought her finger closer to her lips. "Waking up in your arms only to walk away, and then my little…performance. I really was terrible to use one of your records and then dance about wearing only this satin robe." She snuck a glance at Jack, a little smirk on her lips.

Jack had been watching her. He wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, but suddenly he was too focused on her finger. The way the chocolate frosting was temptingly close to her luscious red lips. He almost didn't hear her.

"Jack?"

"Huh…"

Sally giggled and before he could move, she drew her finger across his nose cavity. Jack blinked in surprise. If he had eyeballs, they would be cross-eyed as he looked at the glop of chocolate perched on his nose. Sally just laughed.

"Oh Jack, you should see yourself." She tittered. "You look so cute!"

"Cute, huh?" he challenged. He glanced over to where his decapitated donut still lay on the table. He grinned wickedly and reached for it.

"So, you think that was pretty funny?"

Sally had her eyes closed and her hand over her mouth. "M-Maybe…"

He hummed in understanding, secretly warming the hand clutching the maimed treat with the faintest bit of Pumpkin Fire.

"Really, darling?" he asked, voice silky and inquisitive. "Have you not learned from last night what happens when you tease me, and call me cute?"

The chocolate started to slowly drip along the length of Jack's fingers, a bit of the jelly that made up the voodoo doll's innards also stained his fingertips. He sneakily set the messy treat back on its plate without her noticing.

Sally stopped her giggle fit and sat back. She cocked her head to the side in a confident way, eyeing him from under her long lashes with a challenging smirk.

"Now dearest, I only speak the truth." She licked the remaining icing off her finger before continuing. "It's hardly fair to condemn my saying it when it's your fault for looking as adorable as you do," she replied. "You may be the Master of Fright, but I'm afraid to tell you that around me, you have also become the King of Cute."

"Well then…" Jack drawled. Quicker than a whip, he wrapped his unchocolafied hand around Sally's waist so that she couldn't escape, and presented his other hand with a wicked gleam in his sockets. A toothy grin split across his skull as he saw her previously challenging eyes suddenly widen. He barely suppressed a menacing cackle once she started wiggling.

"I wonder what that makes you then, Sally love?"

She saw his hand and immediately knew what he was about to do. "Jack Skellington! Don't you dare–"


	4. Challenging the King

**AN:** Kinda short but it was getting a little long. Someone decide to get a little sassy!

* * *

Bursting out into a eerie cackle, Jack struck! His fingers smeared the glaze and jelly mix across a shrieking Sally's cheeks, arm deflecting her swats, and hand maneuvering around her arms as she tried to block him in vain.

"Are you threatening me, Sally? I'm shocked!" he exclaimed, spreading the last of the chocolate down the front of her neck as far as the robe she wore would let him, and as the finishing touch, he dotted a bit of raspberry jam on her nose with a wide, smug, rascally skeleton grin.

"And now you know why it's not wise to call the Pumpkin King cute."

Sally gasped, coughing as she inhaled some of the glaze. She pulled back and gave him an incredulous look. Had he seriously just done that?! All she had done was blot his nose with a little frosting, and he had gone and smothered her in a sticky, chocolate raspberry mess!

"Oh, you are positively wicked!" She laughed in spite of herself. She whipped some of the chocolate from her face, only managing to smear it further. "It's on your head if this jelly stains my skin," she warned him, looking at herself. She was a mess! "I can easily make a new robe, but not only will the girls bury you alive if I look like a patchwork of brown and red on our wedding day; I'll help them tie you up and hand them the shovels."

"Ooo!" Jack laughed taunted. "I'm petrified. Whatever will I do?" He licked his fingers clean and took a step closer, having stepped back and letting go of her once dealing out his payback.

"Big mistake!"

Before he could stop her, Sally stood up and snatched up the forgotten melted donut in one hand, grabbing Jack by the clavicle with the other. She smashed the snout into his face before pulling him down to her level and then pressing herself against him. She rubbed her face and neck against his bones, coating them with the jelly and chocolate on her skin. She only had a second to enjoy the shock on his face before taking his lips in a heated kiss. She pushed her tongue into his mouth and intertwined it with his long forked tongue. She moaned in the back of her throat, loving how he tasted of chocolate, raspberry and peppermint.

 _Bet he wasn't expecting_ _that_ , she thought, smiling satisfactorily as she continued to intertwine their tongues.

Shocked turned to fiery desire once Jack's mind caught up to everything, it having flat-lined when she bodily nuzzled the sweet stickiness that coated her face and neck against him. His Pumpkin Fire manifested itself along his bones the moment she yanked him down.

He growled deeply from within his chest, meeting her kiss and tongue with the same ferocity, swallowing up her moans and mewls, and feeding her his groans and growls. He ran his hands down her body, feeling her figure hidden under that breathtaking black satin, and settled his hands on each side of her hips with a passionate squeeze. The taste of chocolate, spices, coffee, and raspberry sending another spiral of lust through him as he wound his tongue around Sally's, the fight for dominance earning her another lustful growl from him, and his hands moving over to her rear.

Jack chuckled huskily through their kissing at the squeak she gave in surprise when he pinched her backside.

Sally tightened her hold on him as she began to swoon. She loved this new, confident side of him that had until last night been almost dormant inside of him. She remembered how he had grabbed her, thrown her over his shoulders and tossed her playfully onto his bed. She remembered the way he looked at her. How his eye sockets gleamed with a predatory stare that had her pulse pounding. She bet that if she could look into them now, those dark sockets would hold the same hungry look.

She moaned as his tongue curled around hers, teasing the underside as Jack once more tried to control the kiss. The heat from his flame warmed her skin and increased the intensity of the moment. His right hand moved from her rear to the back of her thigh, applying pressure. She raised her leg in response, giving Jack the opportunity to grab the back of her knee and bring her leg up to hold against his hip. Her robe fell back, giving him full access to her skin and stitches.

He was bold and so very passionate! The way his hands glided over the contours of her body, squeezing her thigh affectionately while groaning at the contact of her halfway wrapped around his form. Never mind his hand was probably still sticky with traces of chocolate and jelly, but once again, the robe could be cleaned or she could make another. Besides, the more his hands explored and the more he groaned from their kiss, the more she wanted to continue where they had left off that morning.

The way he dominated their kiss was incredible. It was a wonder she hadn't ravished him right there on the table. She imagined him picking her up by the back of her legs, carrying her upstairs and back to his room, all the while without breaking their kiss.

She pulled herself closer, her hands lowering to press against his chest. She moaned as she started to let Jack take control. She pulled herself closer, her hands lowering to press against his chest. She moaned as she started to let Jack take control when she suddenly paused. Her fingers met with a sticky coating.

Without breaking the kiss, Sally allowed her mind to lift from the heady fog to focus on the feeling under her hands. The hardness of bone was joined by a slimy, sticky layer. Now that she was more aware, she could also feel the sugary grit where Jack's hand pressed into her bare thigh. Suddenly, her previous dismissal of their messy state was a bit of a concern.

As much as she was enjoying this intimate moment, perhaps it would be better to clean up. Sally knew that chocolate could be tricky to clean out of fabric and raspberry jelly would stain terribly. Plus, if they continued and Jack decided to return upstairs, Sally could only dread what this mess would do to Jack's nice sheets. Besides, they should really get cleaned up themselves. She hadn't been lying when she told him that her skin might blotch, especially from the jelly.

She sighed through her nose. It was a shame, she had really been enjoying their kiss.

Jack, though still lost in his passion, took Sally's sigh and slowing down as a sign for him to move on, which he was perfectly fine with. Even if it wasn't by sharing a kiss, he was more than happy to express his love and hunger for her in different yet still very pleasurable ways.

"…Oooh Sally…" he sighed breathlessly, sockets closed. He continued to kiss her lips, dragging his kisses to the corner of her mouth, and following the seam before moving down to that spot between her ear and jaw. "Sally, Sally… Sweet Samhain, I love you…" He chuckled breathlessly amongst his kisses.

Sally groaned, tightening her grip on him. How could she possibly break away when he did that? The way he moaned her name in that pleasurable way set her leaves a flutter with desire. He was so tender. She could feel the heat from his flames tempering off while he teased her senseless. She wanted to continue this, but she also wanted to get cleaned up.

Suddenly, she had an idea. It would be daring, not to mention bold of her to suggest, yet it was too tempting not to pass up. But first—she hated to have to stop such a wonderful feeling—she would need to get Jack to stop sucking on her neck.

"Oh Jack…" she moaned, purring from the pleasure. "If you keep that up, I might have to do some restitching. I think you loosened a few last night, but I…" She bit her lip when he started nibbling a seam. "…I haven't had the chance to check, given someone decided to start a food fight."

"All is fair in love and war, my Sally. Besides, you weren't exactly an innocent bystander either," Jack growled playfully, nuzzling down the length of her neck from the spot he'd previously been kissing.

"Oh, you have a point there, my love."

Sally pulled back to admire her handiwork. Once ivory bones were now coated with streaks of raspberry red and gooey chocolate from his lower ribcage all the way up to either side of his skull. She purposely missed his face so the glob of frosting still sat perched on his nose. He certainly looked delicious. She stepped forward on her tiptoes and licked the frosting from his nose. She settled back on her feet and licked her lips.

"Mmm… Well, that was fun," she said, "though we should really clean up. I don't know about you, but cleaning coated chocolate off bone is a lot simpler than getting it off stitching. Wouldn't want to have to explain to Doctor Finklestein why I need several threads redone, would we?"

Jack visibly flinched, bottom of his right eye socket twitching for a moment before he gave her an incredibly impassive expression.

"It'll be a fat chance of the Mayor marrying the Easter Bunny before I willingly go over to my future in-laws/long time colleague's place to basically tell him that I've been thoroughly ravishing his daughter before her wedding night," he dryly admitted, brow hitched at her.

They stood in silence, neither one of them moving. Sally was biting her lip while Jack stood still and straight with a deadpan look on his face. Then the two burst out into a fit of laughter.

Sally was the first to calm down. She wiped a tear from her eye, smearing a streak of jelly over her cheek. "Well, that would be quite a scenario."

"More like the nightmare of the century," Jack snorted with a grimace. "No one ever said that all nightmares had to be scary. Plenty of nightmares revolve around humiliating situations as well."

"Very true, my dearest Jack." She grinned and tapped his nose. "Well, it's clear that there's only one way to avoid that terribly embarrassing situation."

"Oh? And what do you suggest, Babydoll?" he asked, lowering his voice and moving closer.

Sally smiled coyly, running her hands over his shoulders and the top of his collarbone. "Well…neither of us want to explain to the Doctor how I got chocolate caked on my stitches, or jelly stained on my cloth skin…right?"

"I'd be eternally grateful if we could avoid that." Jack replied with a half smile, a tone of humor in his voice even as it grew deeper.

"So, the way I see it…" She leaned up until she was just a breath away from his lips again. She could see the way Jack was melting, quite literally, as she teased her lips over his.

"Since you were the one to instigate this little food fight, I'll leave you to clean up the kitchen." She patted his cheek before stepping out of his arms, and walking away.

"Why tha-What?!" Jack protested, sockets as wide as dinner plates in surprise.

"You heard me." Sally laughed, loving how utterly befuddled her beloved sounded. "You are going to clean up the whole kitchen by yourself," she stated, one hand on her hip in a confident stance. "Call it extortion, but the way I see it, it serves you right for making the mess in the first place."

 _Well, I can't deny that I did escalate things…_ Jack looked at the table and floor, smiling guilty at the spots and streaks of chocolate and raspberry jelly now starting to dry.

"Yeah, I guess it does…" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, already walking over to the sink to get the dish rags, and quickly wetting them under the faucet before shutting it off. Jack turned around, catching as Sally began to turn the corner out of the kitchen.

"And just where do you think you're going?" He hitched his brow in curiosity, wringing the dishrags a bit to get rid of any excess water.

Sally stopped and looked at him from over her shoulder. "Oh, I need to get these stains out so I don't have to visit Dear Old Dad–" She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "–for new skin and a rethreading. Besides, I have other things to do, and certainly can't go around looking like a melted dessert," she replied nonchalantly, her hands folded behind her back.

The look he gave her as he walked by her to the messy table easily expressed his thoughts, silently asking her how exactly was that a bad thing? To which she answered by sticking her tongue out at him, making him huff in amusement even as he began working on a stain.

"So I'm going to wash up." She threw him a wink before adding, "Feel free to join me when you've finished the kitchen," and disappeared around the corner, swinging her hips seductively.

"Oh sure, tease your poor fiancé with the idea of–Wait, WHAT?!"


	5. Turn Up the Heat

**AN:** Okay boy and girls, things are about to get a little steamy. Nothing M-rated (hopefully) but very smexy. lol

* * *

Jack dashed around the corner after her, but when he stepped into the hall, the only thing he saw was her black robe on the floor and the sight of a curved blue leg disappearing into the bathroom. Jack was frozen on the spot. His mind once again tried to make sense of what just happened and that he hadn't suddenly become hard of hearing.

The sound of the shower starting up seemed to echo in the hallway, before it was interrupted by the sound of bone clattering as it hit the floor. Jack quickly bent down to pick up his jaw. He gulped thickly, having reconnected his wayward mandible with a tiny _click_ , his sockets drilling holes into the bathroom door as he stared at it in a daze.

His mind easily conjured the image of Sally he knew lay beyond. Her lovely hair darkened from the water as it clung to her damp figure. Water running down sensuous curves before trickling off her dainty feet. Crystalline droplets hanging off her lashes as she looked at him with a flirtatious sparkle in her eyes.

As if that wasn't enough to set his bones aflame, the sound of the water was joined by a sweet siren-esque voice.

 _When marimba rhythms start to play  
_ _Dance with me, make me sway  
_ _Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore  
_ _Hold me close, sway me more_

Jack felt his throat become dry. The lyrics were so, so sensual, and, and… He stopped when the door creaked open just a crack. He expected a blue hand inviting him to enter, or perhaps a teasing voice telling him to hurry up with the kitchen. Instead, a pair of white panties flew out and landed on the floor.

Jack stared back at the freshly discard knickers then back up at the door, and then back down again. The idea of throwing himself at the door and clawing at it like Zero when it was time for a walk was all too appealing, but his body stayed rooted to the spot.

 _Like a flower bending in the breeze  
_ _Bend with me, sway with ease  
_ _When we dance you have a way with me  
_ _Stay with me, sway with me_

Jack gulped again, feeling his phantom pulse race as he listened closer. The fire encasing his bones almost seemed to dance along with the siren call of a song.

 _Other dancers may be on the floor  
_ _Dear, but my eyes will see only you  
_ _Only you have that magic technique  
_ _When we sway I go weak_

 _I can hear the sounds of violins  
_ _Long before it begins  
_ _Make me thrill as only you know how  
_ _Sway me smooth, sway me now_

 _Mi amore_

Jack grinned stupidly, sockets staring off dreamily before shaking himself from his trance. _She's not even in the same room, and she's still able to knock me skull over heels with just her voice..._

He bolted to the kitchen to tidy up faster then ever. He put the uneaten food into the icebox, tossed all the trash in the garbage, and the set to work tackling the stains on the table with the damp dishrags he had already prepared.

All the while, he could still hear his beloved's voice.

 _Sway me, make me  
_ _Thrill me, hold me  
_ _Bend me, please me  
_ _You have a way with me_

 _Is she_ purposely _making her voice like that?!_ he thought, scrubbing at a rather stubborn jelly stain. Already the flames were licking at his hands, releasing small hisses of steam as the heat met the water in the towel. He needed to get this done or risk scorching the kitchen.

 _Other dancers may be on the floor  
_ _Dear, but my eyes will see only you  
_ _Only you have that magic technique  
_ _When we sway I go weak  
_ _I go weak_

"Oh screw this!" Jack spat impatiently.

He jabbed his index finger out. He grinned wickedly in satisfaction as a golf ball sized flame burnt the stains enough that they hardened to a sooty black. Putting out the improvised blowtorch, Jack gave each burnt stain a hard flick and then wiped away the crumbling residue with the wet rags. It was rushed but he figured there was time to clean later. Plus, he didn't burn the table either!

 _I can hear the sounds of violins  
_ _Long before it begins  
_ _Make me thrill as only you know how  
_ _Sway me smooth, sway me now  
_ _Make me thrill as only you know how  
_ _Sway me smooth, sway me now_

Tossing the rag back in the sink, Jack took off down the hall and then stopped before the bathroom door. He could hear her humming the melody even over the sound of the shower. He grinned puckishly as he tugged at his belt, tossing it with his pants to join Sally's robe and panties on the floor.

A curtain of steam escaped into the hallway the moment he entered the bathroom, his boxers landing on top of the discarded clothing as he entered, closing the door behind him without making a sound.

 _Make me thrill as only you know how  
_ _Sway me smooth, sway me now  
_ _Sway me  
_ _Sway me  
_ _Sway me now_

Sally hummed out the last of the tune. She was scrubbing the bits of jelly from her hair, a normally daunting task given the length of her scarlet locks. She kept her eyes closed, releasing a frustrated sigh as she raked her fingers over her scalp, fingers tangled within the soapy tresses. It was so long, and the thickness made it difficult to get all the soap out, let alone the added jelly her fiancé had so kindly decorated her with. Even before that it always took her a bit longer to wash her hair. She often wondered why Doctor Finklestein has made her with such long hair in the first place.

As she continued in her task, Sally had no idea that while she stood under the heated water, outside in the spacious room a ghost-like silhouette stalked towards the shower.

Jack could feel the droplets of humidity gather on his bones from the misted room, only to evaporate from his own brand of heat. Even with the steam misting up all surfaces of the bathroom, not even the distortion of the shower door glass could conceal everything from Jack's roaming eye sockets. He could see her, not the finer details but that he could very much see a very female form occupying the shower. He felt excitement, love, and desire thrill in his bones as he watched and listened to the hummed notes of the song.

The smile on his lips and soft look in his sockets showing nothing but love and awe and longing. Even with the events from last night, the fact that they had consummated their love for each other for the first time…it was still surreal to Jack sometimes. It was surreal for him in the sense that he had found someone so special, or rather she found him and helped show him something that had been growing between them for quite sometime. It was surreal that he wasn't the lonely Pumpkin King anymore, cursed by his fame to be seen as a separate person than being treated like any man needs to be treated. It was so surreal that sometimes late into the night or early in the morning when he was awake with her curled up against him, he'd come to the conclusion that the Doctor, as brilliant as he may be, didn't actually come up with Sally. That like the birth of Venus, Sally was delivered into his world by Finkelstein's hand like the goddess was delivered by the sea, but Sally…everything that made up Sally—her hair, her body, her eyes, her lips, her thoughts, her feelings, her mind, her smile, and her heart—that, Jack felt this deeply within his heart and soul, was the work of something else entirely…something magical.

With all the skill and prowess that helped earn him his title, Jack soundlessly walked over to the shower. He slipped inside and closed the glass door behind him. The steam and humidity was stronger now that he was directly closer to the source. His flames were put out by the spray, but the heat remained. He silently closed the bit of distance between them. He readied to pounce, slightly distracted as he was getting a rather nice view of her back and rear, even as she continued to wash her hair.

Suddenly, the humming stopped. "Ugh, this takes forever! Don't know why I bother," Sally uttered rather bitterly. "One of these days, I really should just cut it. Huh… Maybe Jack might like my hair shorter?" She giggled.

Jack frowned at the thought. He loved Sally's long hair. He loved running his fingers through it, and he loved how it looked when she'd style it. He loved how easily it slid through his fingers when he played with it. He particularly enjoyed the mornings when he would find Sally in her room, quietly sitting at her vanity brushing out her lovely hair. He could watch for hours until she caught sight of him in her mirror. A knowing smile would follow before she would turn and hold out her brush to him. There was something to be said about a gentleman brushing a lady's hair. It had quickly become one of his favorite morning rituals.

But how was he to do so if she shortened it? Oh no! He would need to put a stop to this.

Gently, as not to startle her too badly, he wrapped his arms lowly around her waist and rested his jaw against her shoulder.

"I actually very much love your long hair, my love, so please don't cut it."

"Ooo!" Sally's hands fell away from her head as she turned to face him. "Jack, you startled me."

"Well, I am quite good at that, darling," he remarked with a laugh. "I'm not the Pumpkin King for nothing." He winked cheekily, playing with a few strands of her hair before kissing her right on the nose.

"That you are. I even gave you an open invitation and you still manage to surprise me, my suave sneak." She laughed, placing her hands over his. "Though I have to say, it's about time. I was starting to wonder if you'd even heard my proposal. I'm glad you decided to finally join me. I was getting lonely..."

"As am I, Babydoll," Jack drawled, fingers cupping her cheek tenderly as his other hand slid to her back underneath her hair. "Do forgive me for making you doubt me, but I did have to pick my jaw up off the floor after my brain made it absolutely sure that I hadn't imagined your rather bold invitation."

He smiled flirtatiously, leaning in close, and spoke softly but still loud enough to not be muffled by the shower. "I'll tell you a secret, but it's strictly between us."

"Oh? Just between you and me, huh?"she asked coyly. She knew he was playing at something, but she was not quite sure what. Still, it was rather fun, so she just played along.

She turned around, wrapping her arms around him. She had difficulty keeping up the coy appearance. Now that she was facing him, Sally could see how the heat and water melted the chocolate along Jack's bones. With that mischievous smile on his face, he rather looked like a little boy who had been splashing in mud puddles while playing out in the rain.

 _Don't say he's cute. Do not say he is cute_ , she reminded herself. _The last thing you need is for the two of you to slip and fall because Jack tickles you for calling him cute again._

"So what is it you wish to share with me?" she asked.

"You see, as the Pumpkin King I'm just so use to people—both man and creature—fearing me–" His tone growing lower and softer. "–submitting to me…"

Sally purred. She loved when he lowered his voice like that. It made her quiver. That, and the fact his right hand was now ghosting along the seams on her back, making her hair brush over her skin. It was a wonderful sensation. She eyed him, wondering how Jack was not saying anything about her trembling. There was no way he couldn't feel it. They were too close for him not to with how her body was pressed against his.

"You are terribly frightful when you want to be, but I don't see what's so secretive about that. You're no pushover when it comes to fear, both in a good scare and when you want to be intimidating." She giggled and pulled him closer, teasing her fingers down his spine. "You've certainly scared me a few times…not that I'm complaining…" she added, voice low to match his tone. "You know just how to make a chill run down my spine. In more ways than one."

He laughed, a deep husky sound that rumbled in his chest. His hands both reuniting around the small of her back, holding her closer, and keeping her pressed against him. The space between their bodies was just barely big enough to let trickles of water from the shower make their trek down to the drain.

"Hmmm yes…" He chuckled. "Personally, I think that's my favorite way to give chills." His fingers unwound themselves, his palms now laying flat against Saly's wet skin. He began kneading slowly and deeply. He leaned in, nuzzling her neck when she exposed it more after gasping. He grinned at the was she was quivering at his massaging hands. He softly feathered kisses along her neck and shoulder before stopping close to her ear.

"My ravishing rag doll," he whispered with a touch of humor in his low, rough tone. "Please let me finish or I might just get too distracted to tell you this secret." He pressed more kisses into her neck as if they were to help persuade her into being more patient.

Sally released a shuddery breath. "If you keep that up, I might not let you."

He hummed in interest against her skin, lifting his skull from her neck to look at her with a challenge in his eye sockets.

"Really now? And what if I did this?"

His hands flew away from her back and wrapped possessively around each of her slender wrists. Before she had time to react, Sally found herself pinned securely against the back wall of the shower, Jack pressing himself against her so that she was trapped as well. He half smirked, sockets relaxed yet confident as he leaned in again, nose brushing hers while he stared into Sally's surprised yet desire glittering eyes.

"How about now, you foxy little nightmare? Do you still think you can stop me?" He breathed, less than an inch away from tracing his lips against hers, squeezing her trapped wrists in his strong yet gentle hold.

Sally didn't know what to say. The heavy blush on her cheeks was probably telling Jack all he needed to know. She just couldn't believe it. Jack actually pinned her against a wall!

This was a side of her lover she hadn't seen since last night, though he had never done anything this bold. Being pushed against the wall, wrists immobilized and Jack pressing into her so that her body was cornered against the wall. And how he challenged her, looking her in the eye with fiery determination and a heady possessiveness that elicited that addictively delicious quiver down her spine, and made her toes curl when he spoke. He was like a cunning fox who'd concerned its prey, and she the little rabbit trapped in his clutches.

"I…I…"

The way Jack chuckled was dark and seductive. "What's the matter?" he asked. He moved her arms up until he held them over her head. "No sassy reply? I'm surprised, love."

It all made her head spin and burned a fire low in her belly. She whimpered something between pain and pleasure. "Please Jack," she pleaded, the water dripping over her pouted lips. "Stop teasing me."

"Oh but you know how I love teasing you," he nearly purred. He lowered his head, sockets never losing their connection to hers, and opened his mouth. His long, serpentine tongue curled out from his maw of predatory teeth.

"Yes…but… Aaaa!" Sally gasped feeling his tongue flick over her sensitive skin. "J-Jack! We are-are in the shower…"

"And I know how you love it when I tease you. Like this…" he continued, ignoring her comment, before tasting the water the streamed down between the valley of her breasts. He could feel her pulse triple in beat as he continued to lick along the damp skin, following the long seam that trailed up to the top of her chest.

Sally's mind shut down. Her knees wobbled and threatened to give out, though Jack's hold on her wrists was helping her from falling to the floor. She didn't know what to think. She knew she had yet to wash the chocolate from earlier, though by the way Jack was lapping at her skin, he was taking care of that. The more he explored, the more the sensation made her moan deep within her chest. That seemed to only spur him on.

"J-Jack…" she whimpered, trying to focus while he clouded her mind with some rather risqué thoughts. "My dearest, dearest Jack… W-We still need to-to clean up and-and…" She hissed as he continued his slow trail, flicking his tongue between the grooves of the cross stitching of her chest.

"W-Well…d-d-darling, as much as we're both enjoy-enjoying this…d-don't forget, I really can't stay under the water t-too long. R-Remember, the time you took me boating on the lake and it t-tipped, and-and it took hours before I was dry?"

Planting one last kiss upon the center of that intersection of seams, Jack pulled away to admire the sight of her heaving bosom before looking back up at her with a thoughtful little smile. He sighed in acceptance, though reluctantly and straighten up to his full height again.

"I'd completely forgotten about that, Sally. I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely, chuckling as he moved his hands up from her wrists to slide his palms against hers, entwining their fingers. "Let's finish cleaning up and then I'll tell you that secret, alright?"

"Alright…" she sighed, still trying to control her breathing. "I am curious to what your secret is, but something tells me it would be better to finish that discussion somewhere a little more comfortable, not that this wasn't fun."

Sally giggled at the admiring look on his face. She untangled one of her hands from his fingers and reached passed him for the bar of soap. She brought it close to her chest and looked up at Jack, fluttering her lashes a bit.

"I'll need my other hand back now, if you please?" she said, playing with the bar of soap.

He pouted. "I'm not allowed to help, am I?"

"Aww, now don't pout, Bone Daddy." She giggled as he reluctantly freed her, taking the bar and lathering the soap between her hands. "If you'd been here earlier, you could've helped me with my hair," she said. Placing the bar aside, she smiled at him with hooded eyes. "But don't worry. You'll get your turn."

"What do you m–" Jack didn't finish as Sally ran her hands over his chest. She used enough pressure to work the soap over his bones, clearing away the last traces of their food fight. She couldn't help laughing the the sight of the colorful suds now decorating her lover's chest. She could only imagine what must be going on in Jack's mind as she continued washing him.

Jack practically purred under her care, bones rattling lightly when she scrubbed between the spaces in his ribs, a blissful yet goofy smile on his mouth. He blanched a bit at the intimacy of the gesture.

Sally smiled as Jack melted under her touch. She carefully moved over each rib until the bone was back to its polished white color. Then she worked her way up, massaging his shoulders and neck before running her hands down his long arms. She gently eased him into a turn, lathering her hands with more soap before she went to work on his spine. She had to be a little harder to get in between the grooves of the vertebrae, sometimes using her nails to lightly scratch the bone. She heard Jack groan and let out a shuddery laugh in response.

"Sorry. Was that too much?" she asked, hoping she hadn't hurt him.

Jack looked over his sud-covered shoulder at her, a dazed look in his sockets as he smiled.

"I'm fine, darling," he replied. "Just have a new found appreciation for back rubs is all."

"Oh good. I'm almost done, but…" She giggled and leaned into his back. "I'll need you to kneel down if I'm to reach your head. Or, would you rather I save that for last?"

Jack laughed with a huff, shaking his skull slowly. "You are really making it difficult for me not to try to seduce you again when you press up against me like that, you know?"

"Oh, then let me fix that for you." Sally smiled as she moved off his back. "Jack, would you mind bracing your hands on the wall."

Jack did as she asked, brow quirked in question.

"Just makes it easier for me to get to your legs." She proved her point by leaning down and worked her soapy hands along the bone. Sally smirked. Jack certainly was unique in having quite long femurs. "I'll need you to raise your leg when I get to your feet."

"Uh Sally, are you s-sure about doing that? I mean, not that I don't appreciate it, but you don't have to!" Jack nervously assured, voice cracking when her hands had washed rather high up his leg. He felt his skull burn hotly, a mix of nerves and excitement and embarrassment fighting for control, and his sockets darting around as to not focus on what she was doing.

When she was done with his legs, Sally stood straight up. She noticed Jack was blanching brightly and he seemed fidgety. She tapped his shoulder. "Jack, are you doing alright?" she asked. "If this is too much, I can stop."

"It's…it's a little much…" he admitted bashfully, that bright blanch spread across his face. "It's just…very har–" He blanched darkly and roughly cleared his throat. "–bad choice of words…" He took a deep breath and sighed.

"I meant to say is that it's difficult to not..react…since you are..uhh…" He self-consciously rubbed his neck and gulped. "Rather…close to a certain area of my anatomy…that I'm sure that if our…positions were switched, uh…" he trailed off, embarrassed sockets hopefully conveying what he was trying to explain without words. "Do-Do you get what I'm saying here, my Sally?"

"Yes…" Sally's face flushed but she kept up a smile. "Even after what we shared last night, I admit I'm still a little shy around you. It's part of the reason I wrapped the sheet around me this morning when I got out of your bed. I love being close to you, but I still don't want to…overstep any boundaries," she said, tucking a strand of wet hair behind her ear. "That's why I tried not to, you know…"

"I do." Jack smiled gratefully. He rubbed his neck, a thoughtful look on his face as he gazed at her a bit shy yet sincere.

"Umm… Before..with me pinning you…" Jack's brow furrowed in concerned curiosity. "I don't want to overstep either, but, if I got lost in my…excitement…and made you feel uncomfortable in anyway, Sally… Please tell me, okay?" he gently asked, sockets earnest.

"Jack, I wasn't uncomfortable. It just caught me by surprise is all," Sally replied. "It was definitely a little more…bold than last night, but I trust you. You've never overstepped anything with me, just as I won't with you."

Jack slumped in relief. "Well, that's a load off my shoulders."

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Now, would you like me to finish, or would you like your turn?"

He shook his head. "I-I'll do the rest." He held out his hand for the soap. "I'll get your back now, Sally. I'll just need you to move your hair."

"As you command, my king." She turned so her back was to him and pulled her hair over her shoulders. "How's this?"

"It's f-fine." Jack really did his best not to stare, but goodness it was challenging not to. He was so distracted that he ended up fumbling the soap. He finally caught it with both hands, giving it an embarrassed scowl before laughing sheepishly. The blanch on his cheeks burning a bit more at Sally's attempts to cover her own giggles at his silliness.

"Jack, if it helps, I'll take care of the front," Sally offered. "I'm starting to feel a little weighed down, so we should probably hurry."

"Good idea." He chuckled, blanching again as he smiled tenderly at her. "I can't afford anymore tempting distractions, and certainly not if they equal your discomfort." He planted a gentle kiss on the back of her shoulder as he busied his hands with working up a good lather. Placing the bar of soap back on the shower rack when he was done, Jack held his hands over Sally's upper back, and started carefully massaging the soap coating his hands onto her skin.

"How's that?" he inquired, working away at a few of her stitches on her back, kneading the soap into the thread.

"That…feels…wonderful." Sally was doing her best to behave. She focused on scrubbing the chocolate in her seams while Jack washed her back. His hands were gentle and he seemed to be giving her a massage during the process. She wanted to give in to the pleasant shivers running down her spine, the same ones that carried the all too enticing thought of turning around and seeing if he'd continue. Needing a distraction from the all too real heat in her belly and cheeks, she lifted her left leg up and braced it against the wall to wash her upper thigh, still coated with sugary grit.

Jack caught the action and immediately focused his sockets on her back, internal mantra reminding him that Sally didn't want to risk getting waterlogged again. Personally, he had absolutely no qualms with the idea of a bare Sally lounging around their home as she waited for her body to dry, especially now that they had finally consummated their relationship. Although, since making love to her for the first time, Jack did discover that all of his years of solely focusing on his position as Pumpkin King had left him with quite a 'bottled up appetite' for his lover, which wasn't all that surprising to himself considering how passionate he was by nature.

That didn't stop him from blanching though, even as he half smirked in amused self-deprecation. He lost himself in his thoughts, automatically washing more of Sally's back and shoulders, and returned to focus once it was time to rinse off the chocolate-tinted soap.

Once they were both clean, Sally turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body. She turned just as Jack was getting out when she suddenly stopped him. "Yes?" he asked.

"Jack, forget something?" she asked somewhat coyly.

"No, I don't think so…" he trailed off unsurely, sockets thoughtful.

Sally rolled her eyes. Before he could ask what she was up to, Sally grabbed his skull and with a gentle tug, _pop_! His head was now held firmly between her hands. Shocked, Jack could only blink in bewilderment. "Sally, w-what are you doing?"

"Silly Jack. Remember, you never let me get your skull." She reached behind his headless body and grabbed the soap off the rack. Then she walked over to the sink and turned on the water, adjusting the temperature so it was nice and warm.

Jack stared up at her, stumbling over his words and blanching. "Sally, dearest, y-you really don't..I mean, I'm touched, love, b-but you don't need to d-do this for me…" His body snagged a towel, dried off, and wrapped it around his waist before walking over to Sally's side.

Sally laughed. "But I want to," she told him. "Besides, water won't take off all that chocolate. Now, just relax."

She eased his skull under the faucet, careful not to let the water drip into his eye sockets. Then she pulled him back and released her hold on him to lather the soap in her hands. When she was ready, she began working her fingers over the top of his skull. She concentrated, massaging his head for about two minutes before stopping and leaning forward to turn on the water again.

Though still rather flustered, Jack relaxed once Sally started. The care she put into the cleansing was very soothing despite the blanch still present on his cheekbones. His body also reflected the sense of relaxation his skull felt, lazily wrapping his arms around Sally's waist, and leaning against her back.

Feeling the water was a lukewarm temperature, Sally eased Jack's skull back under the water, clearing away the soap until she heard the surface squeak. Then she turned off the faucet and grabbed a smaller towel to dry him off. She rubbed and buffed until his skull was completely dry. She laughed at the expression on his face.

"See? That wasn't so bad, now was it?" she asked, picking him up as Jack smiled drowsily.

"Not at all actually, but it still caught me by surprise though." He chuckled easily as his body leaned it's neck over her shoulder.

"I'll take it. Not often an un-frightening creature like me can surprise the one and only Pumpkin King." She giggled as his body cuddled closer into her back. "Jack, that's hardly the way to dry off," she teased, kissing his nose socket.

"What? You going to teach me how to properly dry my bones too?" he drawled, his body now purposely rubbing up against Sally like a cat, exaggerating each rub, which messed up her wet hair.

Sally laughed. "Jack, you silly goose," she said, bringing his skull up so their foreheads were pressed together. "No, I'm no expert on drying bones, though I do know you can't dry off anything with wet hair. But if you like…" She smiled while gazing into his eye sockets. "Maybe I should, seeing as how you're not quite together, my love."

Jack quirked his brow in interest. "Really now? How terribly kind." He smirked playfully.

She giggled and teasingly set his skull back on the counter. Carefully watching him, Sally picked up the towel she used to dry his skull then turned around to face his body. She grinned at how surprised it seemed, especially when she pushed it into a turn so its back was now facing Jack. She leaned to her left and gave Jack a wicked grin before she took the towel, purposely going slow over his body's torso while Jack watched from the sink. She moved along the arms and ribcage too, making sure each individual bone was thoroughly dry before moving on. When she got to more intricate bones like along the spinal cord, she would lean in close and blow on the bones before stroking the area with the towel. She made sure to look directly into Jack's eyes as she did it.

Jack and his body both reacted. His body went rigid with a series of _pops_ and _clicks_ from his vertebrae when she moved in on his spine, while Jack's jaw dropped open in shock. "Oh, that is so unfair!"

"Aww! I think someone wants to be included. What do you think?" Sally asked his headless body, giggling impishly. "Think he's been tormented long enough?" She began nuzzling closer and rubbing her towel-clad body against his, just as Jack done before.

The headless body turned around, nodding its neck eagerly, hands trembling in anticipation as it rattled excitedly.

Sally laughed at the adorable reaction. "Well, okay then." She pressed her hands on the ribcage, pressing a kiss to the clavicle bone before stepping out of his arms, giggling at the way Jack's body rocked on its heels anxiously as she walked around to the sink. Meanwhile, Jack's skull was pouted sourly.

"Aww, please don't be mad," she said with her own pout. She picked up his skull and kissed him, bumping their noses together playfully. "After all…you know I just love to tease you."

He gave her a most unamused stare, her taunt not lost on him in the least. He quirked his brow again.

"You do know I will have my revenge, you cunning vixen?" he spoke impassively, a gleam of something puckish in his sockets that disappeared as he spoke in that serious tone again. "Are you absolutely sure you wish to mess with your Pumpkin King like that?"

Sally tapped her lip thoughtfully. True, she was definitely in a lot of trouble for teasing him, but then again, she had already pushed this far. Besides, after all the teasing he had done that morning—parading her underwear around, coating her with melted donut goo, and of course that little scene in the shower—she was completely entitled to a little payback herself. And he had already sent a letter to the Mayor that he would be late. That gave her an idea!

"Hmm, you make a valid point," she said, matching his tone. "One would have to be very foolish to mess with you, even if it is fun to see that adorable surprised look on your face."

"Sally..." he warned, grumbling when she poked his nose to get him to hush.

"But…" Her mouth curved up into a coy smirk. "You'd have to catch me first!" Sally tucked his head under her arm and ran for the door.

"Hey!" Jack called out. "Don't just stand there, get her!"

His body reacted and lunged, but was too slow as she clicked the lock on the bathroom door, shutting it before Jack's body could catch her. She laughed and calmly grabbed her robe off the floor, making her way to Jack's room. She had his head tucked nicely against her side and her robe flung over her shoulder, her hips swaying as she walked.

"How long till you realize that the lock is on the inside of the door?" she asked causally.

"Probably a few minutes since my body is still processing the fact I've been skull-nabbed by my fiancée, who is still wearing only a towel, and enjoys teasing me…" Jack answered casually. Well, as casually as he could without completely being distracted. It's hard not to be when your terribly curvaceous lover has your face literally pressed against their towel clad hip.

"Then again–" He made an expression that would have most likely had been accompanied by a shrug if he had shoulders. "–I could be speculating." They could both hear faint scratching sounds as they left the bathroom behind, Sally turning a corner to get to the staircase.

"So are you going to tell me what you have planned for a simple skull?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Sally said, drumming her fingers on his cranium. She began climbing the stairs while she listed off some ideas. "There's not much. I've already done many things to tease you and it's only morning. But now I have just your head…"

She reached the top of the stairs. She removed his head from her hip and stared down at him in thought as she leaned back against the railing. From his position, Jack couldn't help but notice how her towel was slipping a little. The path of his eye sockets wasn't lost on Sally, and she used the distraction to her advantage.

"Actually, there are quite a few…possibilities. Hmm… I could..give you another nice skull massage, or maybe we could..go back to my room for a bit. Oh, yes, that'd be nice. We could lie on my bed and I could cuddle you close, wearing my robe or maybe just this towel. Maybe I'll even whisper nice things into your ear." The whole time she had been talking, Sally let her hands glide over his skull, tracing the dips and seams. "What do you think, my studly captive? Does anything sound…particularly interesting to you?"

Jack gulped. "Th-Those all sound..sound…ooh..v-very nice..." He had a hard time answering, his ability to articulate gone under her touch. She even brought him closer and turned his skull to tease her lips along the sensitive areas. When she got to the extra sensitive seam along the back, he hissed sharply and groaned.

Sally giggled against his skull. _Ooo, he likes that. I'll have to keep that in mind for later._

She drew back and turned him around to face her. There was a drunken expression on his face, the kind that said he'd fall apart into a pile of bones if he was still attached to his body. "…Huh?" Jack blinked owlishly.

"Oh yes, Jack, that would be perfectly horrid way to spend the rest of the day," she said, stroking his bottom lip with her thumb. "Too bad that's not going to happen."

"W-What do you mean?" He panicked as Sally lifted his head and placed it on top of the banister. "Sally? What're you doing, love?"

Smiling with her hands behind her back, she retreated down the hall. Sally looked over her shoulder and calmly said, "Just another little game, dearest Jack. Like I said, you'll have to catch me, and that's a little hard with part of you still locked away in the bathroom."

"Not even a kiss to tide me over?" he replied, getting anxious.

"Oh, I don't think so!" she said in a singsong voice. "See, you've seem to let out a rather kittenish side of me, and I intend to play it out a little longer."

"We'll see if I've come to regret that decision, you evil little vixen!"

"Well then, Bone Daddy… Come and get me." She turned on her heel and ran towards the back. Jack watched helplessly as she darted into his room, closing the door behind her and and locking it.

Jack waited, sockets focused intently on the single barrier between him and the most fascinatingly flustering woman he ever met in his whole life.

"I'm completely, madly in love with this woman...and she's going to be my wife in only two months…" An adoring smile sat on the Pumpkin King's mouth. It was another five minutes before his body silently made its way up the stairs. Meanwhile, Jack was immersed in thought. _Oh, what a grand adventure that will be…_ He chuckled to himself, his body finally reaching the last step and picking up his skull from the banister.

"So, Sally wants to have a game of chase then?" He reattached his skull with solid _click_ and rolled his neck, cervical vertebrae popping with each satisfying twist. "Well then, a chase she shall get!"

Letting out a sound of contentment and giving his shoulders another quick roll, Jack walked down the hall until he stood before his bedroom door. He stared at the wooden door with an amused smile as he gave it a couple taps with the back of his hand. He could hear her shuffling about within the room.

 _She must be up to something. I wonder what my little dolly has planned?_ He grinned and drummed his fingers on the door again.

"Sa-lly…" Jack sang mirthfully, comfortably leaning against the doorframe. "I can hear you, Babydoll."

No reply save for a soft humming. Inside, Sally had quickly perched herself on the side of the bed, robe once again draped over her body. She was presently rubbing the towel over her hair, trying her best to get it dry. She had a feeling Jack was up to something, but she had to make sure nothing was out of place when he entered the room, or else he would know she had been plotting something. Besides, there no harm in making him wait a little longer.

 _Oh yeah, sure, like making him wait isn't going to put you in more hot water,_ her mind said sarcastically, making Sally giggle between humming her tune.

"Oh dear!" She sighed dramatically, knowing her voice would carry through the door. "What ever shall I do? There's nobody here. Everything's so quiet…I wish I had someone to keep me company…"

"… And the award for best actress goes to…" Jack muttered with a snort of amusement.

"Oh well," she replied, ignoring his comment, "guess I've been abandoned, seeing as not a creature is stirring in this whole house. It's just me. All alone. In this big empty room. In this cold, empty bed… If only I had someone to keep me company. It is so very, very, very lonely…all by myself…" She lowered her voice, knowing the effect it would have on her lover. "I knew I should have dried off before coming in here. Now it's just… Brrr! It's just so cold with only this little towel of mine. I wish I had an extra pair of warm hands to help me…"

Outside, Jack stared at the door, still leaning against its frame, and started clapping.

"And Finkelstein still wonders how you outfoxed his 'genius' intellect over and over…" He stopped clapping and gave the doorknob a quick jimmy. It was still locked. He bumped his skull against the door and continued. "Where was I? Oh yes, and over again…"

Sally let out another dramatic sigh. "Too bad Jack's not around… I still have yet to learn that secret my devilishly handsome fiancé wanted to tell me this morning. It must have been something terribly important. Especially with how he looked when he mentioned it. So passionate. So…desirable. So…so…so…sexy…"

 _Oooh… It can't be legal to sound that inviting…_ Jack shivered with desire, his bones rattling faintly.

"Little doll, little doll," he crooned silkily, "won't you please let me in?" Jack pushed himself off the doorframe and stood tall and confident with his hands behind his back, a cunning yet charming smile on his face. "If not, then might I propose a deal?"

"Oh, there is someone there." He didn't hear anything else, meaning Sally had either remained where she was, or she had gotten much lighter on her feet. "A deal, you say? That sounds very tempting. But, I don't know… I probably shouldn't be making deals with voices behind doors," she stated. "My fiancé may not like that."

He bit back a chuckle. "And what if I were to say– no, _promise_ that this mysterious and tempting voice could unveil to you the secret that your rather debonair fiancé has been teasing you with? "

Jack listened, patiently waiting for her to think it over. He quietly popped his skull off his neck and set it down in front of the door, his body disappearing down the stairs again.

"Does my offer interest you, my dear?" he smoothly asked.

Sally did her best to suppress a laugh. Oh, that man was up to something alright. That tone was just dripping with a sneaky air she found utterly irresistible. "I would say I'd have to ask how you know such a secret," she replied, slowly creeping towards the door. "After all, how do I know this is not some ploy? Some clever trap to steal me away? I warn you, sir, my fiancé is not to be trifled with. He is fearsome and cunning, and rather possessive of me. It would be foolish to try anything on him."

Sally bit her lip against a giggle. _Oh, he's going to get me for_ that one _,_ she thought, thinking of how all morning she'd been teasing him. _Who knows how much payback I've already indebted myself to?_

"I assure you, my pet, that this is no ploy on your trust," Jack replied, honey coating his reassurance to her. "Why, I know quite well the skills of the fearsome Pumpkin King, but I must admit that I don't fright easily."

Jack's body reappeared, now wearing the boxers he had formerly discarded just before his shared shower with the woman behind his bedroom door. It bent down and picked up its skull, reattaching with a subtle _click_ while Jack continued as if he hadn't been a disembodied head just moments ago.

"If anything, I would admit to understanding why he's rather possessive, but I believe it's in good reason though. He looks like the type of man who would never wish to cage you if you were to ask for your freedom…"

The playfulness from before was ebbing away, no mischief nor seduction colored his tone as it grew softer with sincerity. Jack closed his eye sockets, clearly imagining Sally before him, and continued.

"He most likely fights the internal desires to show you to the world so that all can see how brilliant you are, but at the same time, he wants to keep you to himself like a dragon with its most precious treasure…to protect and worship…and love you all for himself, since he's actually quite greedy when it comes to you."

He chuckled softly. "I detest glittering gold and the finest jewels… I'm a most odd dragon for I only want one of only one precious thing…"

Jack lost his train of thought as a pair of soft lips pressed over his, blinking in surprise before he blissfully sank into Sally's kiss with a smile on his face. While he had been professing his love, Sally had crept up to the door and silently emerged from the bedroom. Had Jack remained leaning against the door, he would have fallen into her.

Sally smiled into the kiss. She had certainly managed to surprise him, adding to her very rare ability to sneak up on him. Living with the Master of Fright did have some advantages. One was learning how to stealthily creep up on someone. Oh, Sally couldn't fully master the technique; Jack could easily sneak up on her with little effort while she would be caught just by tiptoeing. However, Sally had discovered that the best way to sneak up on her beloved was when he was deep in thought. She had learned of this the first time Will had caught them off guard while she had been giving Jack a skull massage. She had always found it odd how Jack, with his ghostlike charm, had not heard the human girl at all. Since then, she had experimented and thus made her little discovery.

The technique served to work in her favor. Each time Jack had been speaking sweet words, Sally had crept up on the balls of her feet, being unearthly quiet so not to raise his suspicion.

Sally softened the kiss, sighing sweetly as she pulled back. She looked up to see Jack's love-struck eye sockets and a tender smile on his freshly kissed lips.

"Seems the dragon has quite the silver tongue, one powerful enough to charm me into undoing the lock," she said with a smile. "Quite the cunning creature, aren't you?"

Jack laughed, wrapping his arms around her, and nestling his skull against her forehead. "The same can be said about you, my Sally." He sighed happily with another chuckle. "You're getting better at ambushing me."

"Well, I can't do it too often, else you'll catch on," she answered. "Plus, wouldn't want to ruin your reputation, would we? Imagine if the town found out a little, un-scary rag doll is able to sneak up on their fearsome ruler?"

"Even more of a reason why she's perfect for their king if she can sneak up on the Master of Fright himself." Jack laughed, sweetly pressing a kiss on her lips before pulling back to rest against her forehead again. "Now then, are you letting me into my room or…?" He playfully arched his brow at her with an inquisitive little smile.

Sally giggled. "I wasn't kidding before. It is awfully lonely in there. And I am oh so terribly curious about that little secret of yours… So…" She playfully tugged on his ribcage. "Would you care to join me? Like you said, it is your room."

"Well then," Jack replied, letting her guide him in by his ribs. "I certainly can't turn down that offer. Don't want to put you through that unpleasant loneliness any longer." He shut the door behind them with his foot. "I imagine it'll feel a bit less lonely to you and I once we start calling it _ours_ in two months?" he suggested.

"Perhaps… Though it'll probably be even lonelier." She continued pulling him backwards until she felt the footboard against her calves.

Jack looked at her curiously, tilting his skull. "Why say that?"

"Well, if you think about it, you're going to be away sometimes when you have to meet with the Holiday Leaders." Sally moved until she was kneeling on the bed, still holding onto him. "I just can't help thinking how lonely I'll be those nights," she said, pouting her lips. "You'll be so far away…and I'll be lying here, all alone, waiting until you come back and I can have your arms around me again."

Resting a hand down on the bed beside her knees and placing his weight on it, Jack leaned in and cupped Sally's cheek with his free hand, tenderly stroking her skin with his thumb.

"Oh Babydoll, that won't always be the case," he soothed, a bittersweet yet sincere expression on his face before smiling a bit. "There will be plenty of times where you'll be coming with me for these meetings as my Queen, just as Santa does with Mrs. Claus and Eros with Psyche." He turned the hand cupping her cheek and continued to caress her skin with the back of his fingers. "You are my equal, Sally, and once you're crowned, you'll have just as much of a right and duty to go to these meetings."

Sally smiled. She tenderly placed her hand over his on her cheek, turning to kiss his palm. "I know that, Jack," she said. "There will be times when the leaders will ask to seek council separately, and you'll have to go alone, but I'll be okay. I know you don't see me as just someone who cooks and cleans, and is at your beck and call. We're in this together. An equal partnership."

Then she smiled wickedly and yanked on his arm, pulling him into her. "You know, that pouting before was just so I could get a kiss," she purred, moving her hand on his ribcage up to tease his shoulder blade. "But it's nice to know you feel that way, and that you'd take me along."

Jack's smile widen. "I'd take you to the ends of the Earth and to the Moon if I could, my love," he lovingly replied before smirking like a tomcat. "Now as for that kiss…"

Jack's smirk turned absolutely wolfish as both his hands zipped under Sally and lifted her up inches from the bed, the surprised squeak from her could have been from that, or the fact that one of his hands was being terribly naughty and had squeezed her rear in its grip to lift her—Jack guessed it was a bit a both and enjoyed it all the same. With an easy hop, Jack's knees met the mattress and he scooted up to the middle of the bed, depositing his bride-to-be, and plopped himself down on top of her with a laugh. Jack's desire darken sockets narrowed in thought then seemed to gleam in realization and delight as an idea stuck him.

With a smile fit for a hungry yet cunning predator, he ran his hands up the length of Sally's back then as he reached her hands, pinned them to the bed by entwining his in hers. "I certainly can't have the chance of you escaping again, my clever vixen…" he purred huskily, mere inches from her lips.

Sally shivered from the contact, unable to pull away from his intense gaze, not that she wanted to. _So we're back to pinning me again, huh?_ she thought. _Well, I started this game so…_

She stared back at him with a hooded gaze, fluttering her lashed flirtatiously. "Well then, my beastly skeleton… Since you've made it _very_ clear that neither of us are going anywhere for some time…" She licked her lips. "Perhaps now you will tell me that secret you've been holding back?"

"Now why would I do that, my divine dolly?" Jack teased, though quite tempted to snap up that little pink tongue and those plush rose lips for himself. "You already sealed your fate the moment you opened that door…" he growled out deep and low behind a toothily grin, pressing his skeletal body more firmly against hers. Those telltale little sparks flickering along his bones again.

Sally tried not to let the sensation of how close they were distract her, though it was difficult. She hadn't tied her robe tightly when she locked herself in, making it easier to crawl back and sit on the bed, but when Jack had hopped them both onto the mattress, gravity had come into play. Now her entire left leg was exposed all the way up her hip. The top her robe had hung loosely off her shoulders until Jack's roaming hands brought her arms back up so that she was barely covered again. The closer he leaned in the more his bones pressed against her skin, and then that deep throaty growl of his only added to her excitement.

There was no doubt what Jack had in mind, considering Sally could see his flames sparking from desire. Still, she was curious about what he had to say, but if things continued, he might forget. Jack tended to have a one-track mind when he wanted something. If she was ever going to find out what he was keeping locked up in his mind, she would need him to say it now or she would never find out. She felt like she might burst from the curiosity.

The thought made her titter. _Oh no, I think his curious nature is rubbing off on me._

Jack caught on to her laughter. "Now what could possibly have amused you so, my Sally?" he asked.

"Oh, it's a secret."


	6. Secrets, Scares, and Steaminess

**AN:** And the smexiness continues. Sweet mother of mutation, how did my laptop not catch fire after writing this? Enjoy!

* * *

Jack's eye sockets widened with interest. "A secret, huh? Care to share?"

"Maybe…" Sally replied, "but you first!"

"Hmmm…" Jack hummed thoughtfully before snickering, flashing a wicked grin at her. "Now why would I do that? I say the one pinned to the bed is a bit more inclined to spill their secret."

"Ah, but you forget, we made a deal," she challenged, recalling something that would put the ball back in her court. "You said that you would tell me your secret if I let you in. Well, I've let you inside, and you've still yet to tell me a thing. Are you saying that because you've pinned me to your bed, that now you _won't_ tell me?"

"Uh, yeah, that's the gist of it," he replied simply, though humor colored his tone. It also didn't help that he wiggled his brow mischievously when he answered.

"Why I never! Of all the nerve!" Sally huffed. "Are you telling me that you, _the Pumpkin King_ , is the type who goes back on his word?"

Jack's smile widen as he leaned in closer. "You are terribly cute when you get all huffy like this, my dearest little doll." He looked awfully smug as he teased her and even stole a kiss, quickly pulling away with a laugh when she tried to bite him. "Now look who doesn't like getting called cute!"

"That I have no problem with. It's the juvenile way my supposed refined fiancé is behaving," she quipped while Jack smiled like the Cheshire Cat. Sally tried to retaliate, but Jack's grip on her held her in place. "Argh! I swear, if my hands were free, I'd bop you with a pillow right now!"

"I know you would, which would just end up with you hitting me harder because I'd be too busy cackling to stop you." Jack chuckled through a toothy smirk. "Anything else you'd like to say, or do you prefer trying to huff and puff your way out again? Either way, I'm in no rush. I don't have my meeting until around lunchtime today. I had a nice breakfast this morning, a fantastic shower, and now I'm enjoying my bed while quite comfy on top of my sassy little fiancée."

"Fine! Go ahead and see if you get another willing kiss from me, Mr. Skellington," Sally continued, that formidable smirk teasing at her lips. "Here I was thinking I'd get to know this little secret of yours—the one you _promised_ to tell me—and then we could continue where we left off earlier. But now…" She feigned a yawn. "Now I'm feeling awfully tired. Perhaps I'll go back to sleep."

"You're kidding, right?" Jack arched his brow, not at all convinced with those supposed yawns of hers.

"You heard me," she replied, feigning another yawn. "After all, I was up rather late last night being vigorously loved by a true Halloween Casanova. Then this morning I too enjoyed a lovely breakfast and a wonderful shower, both shared with my perfectly romantic fiancé, but seems he's been replaced with a taunting tomcat who deceived me into opening the door for him. So, yes, I'm not in any mood to play games with you. Perhaps you'll let me know when my dearest fiancé gets back?"

Jack did his best to pout stubbornly, but he was having a hard time fighting off a smile. The expression came out looking like a funny cross between the two that made the corners of his skeletal lips twitch.

"You brought it on yourself, darling," Sally continued taunting. "All you had to do was tell me your secret."

"Ah, but how is a man to think when he has such a lovely sight of a nightmarish vision trapped beneath him? I can think of much better things to…discuss…than some silly secret…"

"Oh really? Well, that's too bad."

"Oh? And why's that?"

Sally gave him a coy smirk, arching to look at him with hooded eyes. "Because if you do that for me, then I might do something for you."

Jack now smiled in interest. "And what might that be, clever little vixen?"

Sally huffed and turned her head away, eyes closed as her mouth set in a firm line. She was making it very clear that she wouldn't answer until she got what she was promised.

"So stubborn…" Jack huffed in amusement then sighed deeply in defeat. "Alright, alright. I know when I've been bested."

He lowered their hands so that they rested comfortably beside Sally's head instead of over it.

At the motion, Sally cracked open her eye to see what he was up to. Jack caught her staring and smiled innocently. She quickly turned away with shut her eyes again. If anyone was going to speak, it was going to be him. Besides, when it came to the Quiet Game, Sally was the better player. Jack could remain silent for a scare, but when it came to just the two of them alone, he absolutely hated to be ignored.

Jack sighed again, rolling his eye sockets as he muttered under his breath something rude in another language. He looked thoughtful, trying to recall what he had started to say in shower before his mind was completely consumed by passion-tinted thoughts of a very wet and bare rag doll.

"Now where did I leave off…or should I just start from the beginning again?" he murmured to himself.

Still not getting a reply from the self-silenced future queen beneath him. She still had yet to look at him and it was starting to annoy him like it usually did, which led to the foreign swearing. Meanwhile, Sally remained calm and collected, though if one could peer into her mind, they would know it was taking every ounce of concentration for her not to laugh. The fact Jack was now obviously swearing in another language meant that he was getting frustrated far more quickly than usual.

Inwardly she smirked. _Someone's a little more anxious than usual. I wonder why?_

Jack shot her a dry look. "I know you're enjoying this, but I'm not going to accidentally swear in English like I did last time."

He hadn't been able to look her in the eyes out of sheer mortification when that happen. Though it had been Old English, nonetheless, Sally had stared at him and started laughing to the point of tears while he blanched brightly and proceeded to hide his skull. It took her a few tries to stop her giggling while she attempted to persuade him that she wasn't offended, nor was she making fun of his slip of the tongue before he retrieved his faintly blanching skull from its hiding spot.

Jack frowned. Sally still refused to give him a verbal responsive, but it was very clear she was finding their predicament, particularly his frustration, to be amusing.

"I felt that. At least it let's me know that I'm not completely being ignored…" he griped, frowning before his lips turned into a faint smile again. "Alright then… Guess I'll just start over from the beginning."

Jack half shrugged, letting go of Sally's hands so that he could cup her cheek and gently turn her to face him. He chuckled when her eyes blinked open, watching and waiting as curiosity glittered in their depths.

"Sally, do you remember I started to mention about how I'm far too used to people only ever praising or submitting to me?"

Sally shrugged her shoulders, now giving him a ghost of a smile. "…Maybe…"

Jack huffed good-naturedly and continued. "Well, that's something I dealt with even before I became Pumpkin King, all the way back to when I was just Jack Skellington, son of Samuel and Clairese Skellington. Although," Jack mused with another half shrug, "it wasn't too bad when I was growing up, despite my father's reputation as a phenomenal scarer."

Jack grew quiet, sockets unclear as memories filtered through his mind.

"Nonetheless, my parents were both humble monsters and taught me to be the same—to accept the praise with grace even when it gets a bit old. Once I got older and my parents were gone, the praise was still there, but now it was solely focused on me as I began making a name for myself."

Hearing this intrigued her. It was not often Jack talked about his past, and Sally had certainly never heard him mention his family before. She had wanted to ask but never knew how to start. Oh, sure, she knew a bit of his family history that Dr. Finklestein kept in his records of the town, but she never really knew anything beyond the facts. This was getting into personally territory that was only shared with someone trusted. She felt honored.

Using her forearms, Sally pushed herself up and leaned back on her elbows. Once she was comfortable, she looked back at Jack, nodding for him to continue.

"I left Halloween Town for many years, traveling both our world and areas in the Living Realm. I was intrigued to find that there where many different types of monsters and spirits who lived secretly among humans. I learned much that helped me grow as a person, as well as honing my own style of scaring." He paused, cracking a smile, and laughed faintly. "I even interacted with humans through the centuries, both with and without a disguise, like many of the locals did."

A laugh burst out of Jack's smiling mouth as he recalled one memory and the silliness it invoked. "Sweet Samhain!"

"What is it, Jack?"

"I'm remembering the first time I used an enchanted talisman—it was so bizarre seeing myself as a human!" he exclaimed, rolling off of Sally and slapping his hands over his eye sockets. He couldn't stop laughing as the image came to mind of when he first looked at his disguise. "I didn't think I'd feel that short again. I mean, as a teenager, yes, but I'd already hit my growth spurt and overshot my father by a good inch or two…"

Sally laughed along with him. She turned on her side and propped her head on her hand, the other resting over her hip and stomach. "Sounds like quite the experience," she said, loving seeing such giddiness in her lover. "But Jack, I don't understand… What does this all have to do with your secret? I'm afraid this mystery has me baffled."

"W-well…" Jack sniffed, wiping a few tears from his eyes as he got ahold of his laughter. "I just wanted to explain a bit of background that you might not know about me, Sally. I felt like sharing some of this would help better explain my secret as well as just how much you mean to me—not just romantically—since you are a part of my secret."

"Oh, is that so?" Jack nodded. "Well then, please, do continue," she said, making herself more comfortable. "I'm starting to think your curiosity is rubbing off on me, Jack. I can't wait to see how these pieces of the puzzle all fit together."

Chuckling at her comment, Jack took a deep breath then let it all out slowly before he resumed.

"Well, during my travels, I met many interesting people—both human and non human—but those who treated me as Jack Skellington first and then Skeleton Jack, or whatever name I had earned, were very few and far in between…" He grew quiet again, staring up at the ceiling, his hands folded across the front of his spine where his stomach would be.

Sally stole a glance around the room. With all the knickknacks and photographs displayed about the area, she had no doubt about Jack's claim. Several of the black and white photographs were taken with creatures Sally had never seen before. Five in particular had caught her eye, mostly because the man—a mortal man no less with an apparent love of cigars—who stood beside Jack seemed to share in her beloved's pension for pinstripe-styled suites. One of the photographs captured Jack and the pinstripe man while they were standing atop a ceiling as a bald man wearing robes stood beneath them. Another showed Jack and the bald man beside an electrical chair. Jack was at the switch, ready to flip it on, whilst the bald man was strapped into the chair holding a lightbulb in his mouth. The two seemed excited.

Shaking her head at the rascals, she turned to two other photographs. One was of Jack playing chess with a disembodied hand, clearly about to lose by the scowl on his skull. The other was a wide angle to capture an enormous creature standing beside Jack. Her beloved was barely tall enough to reach the other's shoulder. Sally remembered the first time she had seen it, asking how anyone could possibly be taller than Jack. His only reply was that every creature is different, and that it was nice to look up to speak to someone for a change. The memory made her smile.

The final photograph had been her favorite. It was another with the pinstripe man, only this time he and Jack were locked in a heated duel. Both held their rapiers with the skill of master duelists, each displaying a wild and crazed grin. What Sally liked best about this particular photograph, aside from the impressive look of how they handled their weapons; Sally found she could not take her eyes from how they were dressed. Each had done away with their suit jacket, leaving them in only their dress shirts, the white contrasting the black suspenders nicely.

The two were quit the dashing pair, and despite the ferocity of the duel, anyone could tell the man and skeleton had been close friends.

Sally sighed. That had been almost two years ago, and Jack told her he had regrettably lost touch with his old friend. Perhaps she should insist Jack to reconnect with him. She would love to meet the man and his family, and now that she was thinking of it, Jack had neglected to choose a best man. Will and Al agreed to be her bridesmaids but there was no one to stand beside Jack, other than Zero, who would be carrying the rings.

 _Oh, now what did Jack say the man's name was?_ Sally thought. _Something with a J or G? No, definitely G. Gordon? Or was it Emenez? I know it was something Adam…_

"Sally?"

Sally refocused her thoughts to the present. "Sorry. Did you say something, Jack?"

"No, no, darling," he assured, having turned his skull to the side to look at her. "You just looked terribly thoughtful and then your expression turned rather pensive. I was wondering what was on your mind is all, love."

"Just thinking." She scooted closer to him. "It can wait. I don't want you to lose you train of thought," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. "You were saying about meeting interesting people?"

Jack gave a little nod. "Yes, many interesting people, but like in most cases, the good comes with the bad…" he admitted. "It's like a scale. The more my name spread, the less privacy or freedom I had in casual settings…" He frowned in the way one does when remembering something that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Jack let out a short, dry laugh while rubbing the bridge of his nose. He opened his eye sockets again to look bemusedly up at the ceiling.

 **"** So once I returned, I put all my focus into Halloween and everything else I pushed aside. Eventually, this lead me to becoming Pumpkin King when I applied everything that I learned," Jack said with a small smile, growing quiet again before he furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "I guess...I didn't realize how much of that longing I had been suppressing until I stumbled upon Christmas Town."

"Oh Jack…" Sally cooed, placing her hand over his. "I can't imagine how you must have felt all those years."

"True, it was hard, until I met you, Sally. You were the first in a long time to ever want to be around Jack and not my title." He chuckled. "I wonder how my life might have been if a certain dolly had existed back in the late eighteenth century?" He turned and flashed her a charming grin. "I bet you'd have made quite the fetching sight in Victorian fashion, my dear."

"I'd give anything to go back then and give Dr. Finklestein my blueprints. That way you wouldn't have had to wait for me."

"Sally, I may have had to wait to meet my dearest friend, but I'll tell you this." Jack turned to look at her, an adoring smile on his face as he gently nuzzled his forehead against her hair. "The wait was definitely worth it in the end." Gazing lovingly into her eyes, he entwined their hands and brought hers up to his lips.

Sally returned the smiled. "I'm just sorry you had to wait in the first place."

"It was out of our hands, love. Fate works in mysterious ways that even the undead have difficulty predicting."

"Even so…" Sally drew her hand back and caressed his cheekbone. "I believe you've waited long enough. Too long in fact." She moved so that she lay on top of him, her satin robe the only barrier between them.

Jack gulped and chuckled roughly, noting how her body molded perfectly into his. "Sally…wh-what're you doing, love?" Sockets raptly focused on her, shifting so that he was on his elbows, and leaned upwards.

"Just making up for lost time," she answered, her voice regaining a playful tone as she traced her finger along his bones. "That, and I believe I have yet to be held accountable for this morning. Now that you've told me your secret, I feel just awful about the way I behaved. It was rather wicked of me to tease you as I did." She feigned a pout and pressed closer to him, her finger tracing circles over his phantom heart. "My poor love. You've been through so much…"

Jack gazed at her, love and lust darkening his sockets all the more. "Come now, Babydoll, I did just say that the wait was worth it in the end now, didn't I?" he asked as she slowly rose off his chest and sat up, her robe slipping from her shoulders. All she had to do was breath and it would fall away. Jack groaned, tilting his head with a hand over his eyes and a shaky smile on his mouth.

"I swear, you'll be the end of me if you keep doing things like that…"

"Oh no, don't fade away just yet, Bone Daddy. I fully intend to serve out my sentence," she said, now looking down at him coyly. "You said it yourself, my love, that there are consequences for teasing the Pumpkin King."

He barked out a laugh and shivered, muttering about dangerous words as she leaned in closer, pushing him back down onto the mattress. Her hair fell forward, creating a red curtain around them, her soft breath tickling his cheekbones. Her hands came on either side of him, slowly making their way up his ribcage that left a trail of fire in their wake, making Jack rattle as he rested his head back on the bed.

Sally came in closer, knowing by how his flames were beginning to show what her actions were doing to him. "I'll take whatever I deserve for teasing the king, _my King_ …"

Jack let out a rough, shuddery laugh. "Don't tempt me, my Bride…" he groaned, bringing his hands to rest on the top of her hip and small of her back, cracking open an eye socket to peek up at her, only to snap it shut once he caught sight of her looking so heavenly and sinful.

"Sweet Samhain…probably would have spirited you away if I had known…" he trailed off with a murmur, shaking his skull with crooked little smile.

"Well then, my Groom…" Sally purred into his ear, teasing the area with her lips before replying in a breathy whisper, "… What's stopping you?"

"Not what I meant, darling," Jack growled, quickly flipping their positions so that he hovered over her, one hand resting by her side where he anchored his weight, while the other slid down her upper hip to trace down to the back of her thigh. "Though, I assure you, that _nothing_ is going to stop me from taking advantage of all this lovely free time before my meeting."

Sally shivered under his touch. Jack knew how sensitive the skin around her seams was, and he was clearly keeping true to his word about taking full advantage. His eyes studied her hungrily, and she followed that gaze down. She saw that her robe had fallen back, barely covering her chest while a long opening exposed part of her stomach. Catching onto this, Jack removed his hand from her thigh and focused on the folds of her robe. He moved the fabric aside, his fingers brushing her stomach, causing a stuttered laugh to escape her lips at the ticklish sensation.

Hearing that, Jack's sockets flashed with interest and he began tracing his finger along the seams lining her stomach, especially the area around her navel, as he recalled that being particularly sensitive when touched. His actions earned him another of her little stuttery gasps, which he responded to with the deep purr of her name. "…Sally…" The octave low and rough that it rumbled depth from within his chest.

"J-Jack…" Sally couldn't think as he continued teasing her. Her mind wasn't even aware her hands were free and she could try to block him. She continued to tense under his touches, trying not to laugh as he tickled her. "…Jack…"

Jack keep crooning her name, smile growing with each of her gasps and sighs. He moved his hand away and leaned down, grinning mouth parallel to the top of her stomach, and brushed an opened mouth kiss almost leisurely there.

Sally gasped, her stomach contracting from the sensation. Her hands gripped tightly to the sheets as Jack continued trailing torturously slow kisses around her stomach, teasing her skin with warm swift caresses, saving the longer kisses for her navel. She moaned from the pleasure it sent through her, her body tensing and wriggling from the onslaught.

Jack chuckled huskily amongst his kisses, still taking his time, but steadily moving upward after lingering by the spot above her navel. He deliberately breathed upon that patch of skin, sockets flickering down at his faded mark from last night, then back up at his trembling lover's face. Sally looked at him through her dark lashes, her pupils dilated with desire. How she parted her deep red lips to take in slow breathes with a fetching blush upon her cheeks that spread down her neck.

"What I meant, darling," he breathed against her skin, "was that if I had known from the moment I first saw your breathtaking self that I was to be yours as you are mine… I would have spirited you away the second I knew your feelings…" He leaned down, tenderly kissing his mark.

"Damn the Doctor's protests–" He moved higher. "–damn the gossip." He moved higher still until he hovered over the mark between her breasts.

"And damn my title. You are far more precious," Jack whispered devotedly over the crackling flames that now blanketed his back and arms. "Besides…" He bent down even closer, eyes still locked with Sally's as his mouth hung but an inch away from her skin.

"… We're simply meant to be…" And with that truth, Jack closed his eyes kissed her.

Sally couldn't take it. Her grip tightened on the sheets, her legs twisting with her robe as Jack continued ravishing her. His sensuous kisses caused her to sigh and gasp, moan and mewl to the point she wasn't sure if it was her or him. And the confession he made to her, declaring she was more precious to him than anything else in the world. Oh, if Jack hadn't been holding her so tight, she swore she would have burst at the seams, seams that her fiancé was currently devouring like she was the last piece of Halloween candy.

If this was the price she paid for tempting her lover, then it was one she'd gladly pay over and over again.

"Yes…simply meant…to be…" she whispered, so softly it sounded like the coo of a dove. "Oh Jack…my love…my King…"

Jack growled low against her skin. "My Sally… my heart and soul…"

His kisses began moving up her neck, pausing only for him to nip at the stitching along her collarbone before he attended to her naked shoulder. Already his Pumpkin Fire had encased his body in a fiery display. The heat warmed her skin, making Sally close her eyes and lean back against the bed, her hands releasing the sheets to rest on either side of her head.

She tilted to the side to grant him full access to her neck when he was done, knowing how much he loved to kiss her there. She loved the feeling. The way his lips caressed her skin while his teeth, though sharp and frightening, tenderly nibbled her sensitive stitches in way that both delighted and thrilled herself. Instead of taking her offered neck, Jack moved to her other shoulder, nipping and kissing her as he went. His hands squeezed her hips possessively while his thumbs stroked the sides of her belly, causing her to squirm from the ticklishly pleasurable sensation.

Her fists grasped the bedsheets over her head again. She couldn't suppress a giggle as he unintentionally tickled her, causing her leg to brush against Jack's femur. Suddenly, one of his hands moved and grabbed onto her thigh, bringing her leg up to hook over his hipbone. Sally felt her robe slide away, her full leg now pressed firmly to him while his hand explored, keeping a firm hold of her. Just as Sally thought she couldn't take much more, Jack's other hand moved under her, his long fingers splayed over her back to lift her up ever so slightly. Never breaking his stride, Jack continued his assault, dragging his lips slowly down to the top of her breasts, deeply kissing the area before dragging his lips back to tenderly bite her neck.

Sally bit her lip to hold back a rather loud moan that came out a high pitched whimper. What this man's teeth did to her skin should be a crime! She fisted the bedsheets but the hold wasn't enough. Without thinking, she brought her hands up and grabbed his shoulders, perhaps a little more roughly than intended, pulling him closer to her. She wanted to be closer.

"Jack…please…"

"No begging, my angel," he mouthed against her neck in that smokey, honeyed husk of a tone that promised many terribly wonderful things. "You need only ask what you crave…" He let the words linger in the air, then wrapped his lips around the space between Sally's neck and collar, and hungrily sucked which ripped a cry from Sally as she raked her nails down his back.

"But…" She gasped when she felt his tongue on her. "Can't… Can't I…"

Continuing to tenderly lap at the new love bite, Jack pulled back and lazily admired his newest mark before moving on. "Can't what?" he asked, giving her another kiss along her jawline. "You'll have to be more specific…"

Her mind clouded in a fog of desire. She tried to focus on what she wanted, but for the love of Halloween, it was hard! Jack seemed to be finding new ways to send her into a whole other world of pleasure. She barely had a chance to wonder what their honeymoon would be like if he kept this up. Part of her blushed at the thought. Maybe it would be even wilder than this? She couldn't imagine how it could.

Feeling like she was regaining a little more of her senses, Sally glided her hands from Jack's spine along his ribcage, letting her fingers brush the spaces between the bones.

Jack stilled in the midst of his kisses and shivered, breath hitching as he rested his forehead against the side of her head. Sally certainly knew how to get his attention, though he was getting lost in the feel of her delicate hands playing over his bones, much like a concert pianist playing a symphony. He took the top of her ear between his teeth to give him something to focus on, earning a squeak followed by an airy giggle once he started nibbling on her earlobe with a playful growl.

"What I was trying to say is…" Sally asked in a low voice, attempting not to give in to his ministrations. "Won't you let me love you?" She blew on his neck teasingly. "It's not fair if you get to have _all_ the fun, my sinfully sensuous skeletal love."

Jack gave her earlobe a light tug then released it, a puff of laughter fluttering against some of the loose strands of red hair on her face as he leaned his neck away from her treacherous mouth. "Forgive me for being rather greedy, dearest, but I just love spoiling you with all my desire." He chuckled throatily.

"As do I, love, but wouldn't you like some attention too?" Sally offered, her hands lingering on his lower ribs, smiling as they rattled from her touch. "I think your bones would agree that all this focus on little me has them feeling neglected…"

Sally leaned over and kissed his sternum, loving the feel of his flames as they brushed her skin. She nuzzled his chest with her nose before mimicking Jack's previous assault, peppering his collarbone with soft kisses while his bones rattled louder. Sally smirked through each kiss.

Jack let out a shaky laugh, a dopey skeleton grin on his face, and sockets unfocused. "Ooh-hoo, darling dolly, I think you might be on to something with that theory!" Jack exclaimed happily, the hand that was under her back now grabbed at the sheets beneath them. "Now, how about we add on to it?" he persuaded, bobbing his brow rascally at her and giving the sheets another tug.

Sally paused to look at him, fluttering her eyelashes sweetly. "Ooo! What exactly did you have in mind?" she inquired, sneaking one of her hands through his ribs to trace little circles on his spine.

Jack groaned and laughed weakly as he rested his skull against the crown of her head. "That feels really nice…and it's really distracting…" He sighed, happily planting soft kisses along the seams of her face. "I was thinking it was high time we…" The hand on her leg having sneakily moved up, a devilish gleam in his eye when he suddenly stopped, sockets widening as he registered what he didn't feel under his fingertips.

"Uh, Sally? Are you not…"

Sally giggled, letting her nails dig into the grooves of his vertebrae. "Well, dearest, when one plays a game of Cat and Mouse with her devilishly wicked fiancé—wearing nothing but a towel and having her hands occupied with her lover's skull—it leaves very little time for a lady to grab more than a little robe to cover herself."

Jack blanched and shuttered, letting his hand slide back down as his bones rattled. "So you mean to tell me…" he questioned, swallowing thickly, "that all this time…you, my dearest little doll, have been in a man's bedroom with only–" The hand on her leg having moved up and playfully tugged on the loose belt of her satin robe. "–to cover this curvaceous body of yours?"

"Oh? Does that bother you?" Sally arched her leg closer, dragging her toe along his fibula and tibia.

Jack regained his devilish glare as he easily pulled away the length of fabric to reveal more of his beloved. "Not in the least," he purred through a smirk, the word with a touch of excitement in his tone. "I was just thinking… Perhaps, we could…get under these covers and let ourselves get lost in how generous we both want to be to each other. We certainly won't want to have neglected anything we might have missed last night, right Sally-doll?"

"Oh, no indeed, we wouldn't want to do that," Sally replied, sitting up to meet his eye socket, one hand going behind her to help prop herself on the bed. Thanks to Jack slipping off the belt, her robe slipped from her shoulders like water while her hair fell over the front her shoulders.

Jack's eyes widened as now only Sally's fall-colored hair remained the only thing keeping his roaming eye sockets from taking in her full, natural beauty. Sally giggled and continued teasing along his spine.

"There's just one thing though…" She let her hand slowly move down until she reached the top of his boxers. She smirked and playfully tugged, snapping the waistband of his underwear and making Jack flinch in surprise.

Sally had a devilish gleam in her eyes as she tugged again. "One of us is wearing far too much."

Jack gulped. "We-we'll have to remedy that…" He gave a shaky laugh, words becoming harder to intelligently express with his lover looking at him like a cat does its prey.

"Why darling? What's the matter?" Sally inquired, keeping her hold on his waistband while one finger softly stroked the side of his spine. "Has the Master of Fright lost his confidence over such a little thing as to what I wear? Or…"

Jack suddenly found himself in his back, his legs entangled with hers that left him pinned to the bed. His eye sockets stared up at a vision that sparked his rattling bones into a blaze. Sally hovering over him, her eyes watching him hungrily, her hands pressed on either side of his skull while her devil red lips pursed as she spoke in a seductive tone.

"Is he merely stunned by the fact he's no longer in control of the situation?"

Jack swallowed thickly, feeling his phantom heart hammering somewhere between his chest and throat. "Y-Yes, let's go with that…" he breathlessly replied.

"Oh? That didn't sound very convincing," she answered in a singsong voice. "Cat got your tongue? Funny, I thought only I had that privilege."

He roughly cleared his throat. "Oh hush, you cheeky little…" he mustered out with a furrowed brow, shooting her a mocks scolding look. "Excuse me if I'm not used to actually liking when a woman looks at me with eyes that convey utter naughtiness. Things that I'm going to have a very difficult time not replaying in my head during my lunch meeting later."

Jack's sockets widened as his words sunk in. With a deep groan, he clapped a hand over his eye sockets. "I believe Will or Al would say, I'm totally screwed…" He laughed at his fate.

"Oh yes, your meeting," Sally said, moving her hand to trace over his clavicle. "Whatever did you say to ensure you'd arrive so late?"

Jack closed his eyes, a rather proud look on his face as he thought of his note to the Mayor. "I simply apologized for the short notice, but I'd forgotten that I promised to help you clean up around the manor," he explained, grinning at his cleverness. "With all the wedding planning, we've been rather distracted lately and haven't been too focused on trying to keep things tidy."

Sally smirked. "Really Jack? Cleaning was the best excuse you could come up with?"

Jack clicked his tongue, peeking through his fingers with a pout. "My, my, such little faith in your fiancé—that really hurts, Sally." He grumbled and turned his skull away, looking off to the side with a frown.

"Well A, the Mayor knows that the manor is a rather large place with multiple floors and rooms, if you also include the tower," he listed of easily. "And B, he wasn't being tempted by the idea of spending the morning making love to a beautiful woman."

Sally chuckled with confidence, a challenge set in her eyes when she looked back at him. Jack gazed up at her, curious by her rather smug expression, and turned his skull so that he was facing her again. His silent question reflected in how he quirked his brow, previous pout replaced by a more thoughtful one.

"Oh silly man, I know all about that," she stated, leaning down to his ear. "I just find it funny you still think you have a meeting, seeing as you're not going anywhere…my entrapped King…"

"B-But darling…my-my meeting with the Mayor," Jack stuttered. "It-It's for this after–"

"Canceled."

"Wha-What?" He narrowed his sockets in disbelief.

Another of her overconfident titters sent an electrifying shiver up Jack's spine. "Silly skeleton, didn't I tell you? Your messenger bat returned while you were putting yourself together," she said nonchalantly, as though she wasn't currently stripping him. "Since you were occupied, and I was alone waiting for you, I took the message in your stead. Seems the Mayor was concerned with your so-called excuse, and inquired that, with you being up early anyway, we would be done and that you could keep the scheduled time."

Jack blinked in surprised, but kept his gaze fixed on her as he soaked in the new information.

"Well, luckily, I fixed that for you," she giggled. "See, I also apologized but while we were…cleaning, you suddenly became flushed, and you were, burning hot…" She winked as Jack stiffened under her. "Being the concerned fiancée that I am, I told the Mayor, and insisted that you remain in bed. All day."

Jack's hands twitched, he swallowed but said nothing.

"Clearly you weren't completely over the illness you contracted last week. So I made a firm argument that you were not to be disturbed while I ensured you were well again. So, my poor _sick_ dear…" she purred the word as she touched her nose to his nasal sockets. "You have absolutely _nothing_ to do for the rest of the day."

Jack lay there, staring up at her, and slowly cracked a wide skeleton grin as his chest started to shake with building laughter. He tossed his head back, laughing heartily, and wrapped his hands around her hips.

"Oooh Sally!" he got out as his laughter died down to breathless chuckles. "Sally, Sally. All too clever Sally…" He sighed deeply, catching his breath, and looked at her with desire, anticipation, and pride in his eye sockets. "I've said it once and I'll say it again—you are far too modest when it comes to just how clever you are."

"Well, maybe I am, but it's nothing to brag about."

"I certainly think it's something that should never be questioned, but you have your opinion and I have mine," Jack reasoned with an air of professionalism.

"Agree to disagree." Sally let the playfulness fade to something more sultry. "I've always been the odd one for not following all your plans, your highness."

"What a rebellious woman," Jack chided, voice deep yet playful. "I always did like your individuality." He leaned up so that he was rested upon his elbows, a confident little smile on his lips. "Always found it a bit of a turn on too, if I may be so bold to admit." He slowly traced his hands down her hips, over the curve of her rear, and the backs of her thighs before going back up again.

Sally hummed, smiling while the sensation of his hands sent shiver up her spine. "Mmm… You know just the right things to say to a girl, don't you, Jack?"

"Well, I have to be honest," Jack confessed with a crooked smile, now moving his fingertips along the seams of each leg. "I've said plenty of nice things to other girls out of politeness, but you are the only woman I've ever used my so call charm–" He rolled his sockets and smirked at this. "–to flirt with." He gave her a cheeky wink then let his sockets trail downward.

"Besides, I think we made sure that you weren't a simple girl anymore quite a few times last night…" He growled with a devilish look, wiggling his brow bone like a rascal.

"Hmm… Is that right?" She raised an brow, running her hands down his arms. "So you thought I was simple before?"

He snorted. "Far from it, darling."

"Oh really? Because I distinctly heard you say I wasn't a simple girl anymore after last night."

"I meant it in the sense of being unknowing or unexperienced in the physical and emotional of sensuality and love, darling," he answered affectionately. "Nothing negative, I assure you."

"Oh, so now you're saying I was naïve?" She grabbed onto his wrists and held them away from her hips. She tilted her head away from him, eyes closed, and huffed, "You know, maybe you're not so sick after all."

"Huh?" Jack blinked.

She brought his hands in front of her, glancing over them with little interest. "Oh yes, actually, you're fever seems to have disappeared as well," she added before turning her head completely away from him. "Guess I should call up the Mayor and tell him you'll be right over. I'll also mention to him that he should serve your favorite tea, Frog's Breath."

Alarm bells went off in Jack's skull at his unintentional screw up, plus the addition of Frog's Breath possibly being in his future tossed up a couple more maydays. He learned like any smart man, alive or dead, that an annoyed woman was never something to take lightly. The first time he had really miffed Sally was when she had a case of designer's block and it ended with him being banned from her bedroom for two whole days. Obviously, it didn't help that he later found out that he nearly stumbled upon her wedding dress designs.

"Did I say naïve? I meant, naturally gifted and in tune with your female sensuality despite what I possibly assumed, considering the knowledge and text the Doctor would have allowed within his lab! Yes, that's what I meant, darling!" Jack hoped his recovery was good as he desperately rambled. "If anything, I'm the one who's naïve! I was completely clueless to your feelings even before my depression. I'd scold myself for having more than friendly thoughts about you when I tried to make your comfort and gradual introduction to our town my top priority!"

"Is that so?" She still sounded disinterested, but it gave Jack encouragement that she was at least talking to him.

"Oh yes, it was terrible!" Jack continued, wishing his hands were free to take her in his arms. "After all, you were my dearest little friend! You were so kind and gentle, and you put so much trust in me. And here I was secretly thinking how utterly lovely you looked when you observed everything with such curiosity and a desire to learn more. How I tried not to think too much of how your hand felt in mine when we'd be walking along more unsteady terrain, or when I'd be guiding you amongst obstacles that could get hooked onto your dress or hair or skin. Other times, I'd wonder if you'd think me forward if I took your hand in mine and kissed it. Or, if I kissed you… But then I'd realize I was deplorable for thinking of you in such a manner when clearly you only sought my friendship…" Jack trailed off, looking shamefacedly as a light blanched worked its way along his cheekbones, his sockets flickering away from her hesitantly before returning.

"… I even..uh…had to stop listening to…certain records of mine… Never really noticed that quite a few of them had plenty of..uh…thought inducing..love songs on them, which obviously wasn't helping with my denying my fancying of you…" he confessed, feeling painfully aware of the heat coming off his face, and how he didn't feel much like the Pumpkin King at the moment.

 _More like a young lad that had been cornered by the pretty lass he had a crush on…_ he thought to himself before focusing on his irritated fiancée.

"Oh?" Sally refused to look at him. "So… You're saying that you found me…attractive, even then?"

"Oh, so much more than that!" he declared passionately, sockets wide and imploring. "I mean, I thought you were the most beautiful sight I'd seen in a long time in Halloween Town, even back in the cell in Oogie's lair where Zero and I found you after beating him. I was so caught off guard by the sight of you that Zero had to nip me on the leg to get me to focus again! You know…before I made my presence known, since I thought another scare was the last thing you needed after all you had been through…"

"Uh huh…" Sally crossed his wrists together before pressing them a little roughly into his ribcage, clearly only becoming further annoyed with him. "Go on."

"And you know… There I am, an absolute clueless twit of a man, denying the beginning of my feelings for you because I didn't want to put you in an uncomfortable situation." He leaned in, but still gave her enough space as he tried to get a look at her face. "You know being Pumpkin King means having to deal with all this attention from others, and knowing how shy you are at times, I didn't want to put you in the spot. Not to mention all the nosy gossip that would have certainly popped up while you were still finding your rhythm here, and having to deal with a mad scientist's stubborn but terribly misguided sense of protection…" He smiled helplessly and chuckled uneasily.

"Oh, the Doctor wasn't the only one…" Sally finally turned back toward him, head bowed and hair covering part of her face. "I seem to recall a certain skeleton acting overprotective over the last two years after certain…incidents occurred in Halloween Town," she said. "I believe Lock and Barrel's collection of months was one the worst? You remember that, don't you, _darling_?"

Jack cringed. How could he ever forget that embarrassing moment?

He had overheard the boy trick-or-treaters mention they had lost a rather large swarm of the lepidopterans, and fearing for his beloved, had taken rather…drastic measures…Shooting marble-sized fireballs at anything relatively moth sized or shaped had eventually turned into him gathering up a large sum of frogs from the lake, and keeping them in Zero's dog tub in the backyard. The idea seemed to work until Lock and Barrel had admitted to the escaped swarm being a hoax for a prank, much to Jack's annoyance. Funny thing though… The frogs seem to understand that they weren't going to get a free meal and the next thing Jack knew, all the amphibians that whipped out their tongues and latched on it a screaming Lock and Barrel, hitching a ride all the way back to the trio's treehouse. Last he checked, the treehouse was mostly bug free and the clan of hoppers had returned to their lake home after feasting to their slimy hearts' content.

"Okay, yes… Not one of my brightest moments…" Jack grumbled, cheekbones burning.

Sally chuckled. "Oh, and then of course before the frogs left, there was that one who kept sitting atop you skull," she teased. "What did you call him? Jim?"

Jack smiled fondly and chuckled. "Ah yes, Jim… No clue why I picked that name, but he seemed just fine with it," he recalled, remembering the one frog who decided that the top of the Pumpkin King's cranium made a great perch to croak on.

"Well, it certainly wasn't one of your finer moments, though it was many of the first where I noticed my dearest friend was both frightening…and adorable."

Jack pouted boyishly at the latter word. "So… I take it I've been forgiven then?" he asked. "For the, well, Freudian slip?"

"Well…" She smirked, hands gently squeezing his wrists before bringing his hands up to her face. "I guess I could. Though, there was one other thing this little talk reminded me of about you, you wicked king."

Jack became frantic when Sally suddenly got quiet. "Y-yes, darling, what is it?" He felt the softest kiss pressed to his boney knuckles.

"You…" Sally turned her head, one eye peering at him from beneath her hair, along with a compellingly mischievous smirk. "… Are _terribly_ _gullible_ …"

Jack didn't understand. There was no sign of the disappointment and irritation she displayed after his thoughtless comment from before. Instead he found… Mirth. Mischief. Cunning. A smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eye.

"…Okay… What just happened?" he asked, his brow creasing as he tilted his skull in confusion.

Sally perched her chin atop his hands, her tittering only adding to her poor Jack's confusion. "Oh my poor sweet love," she cooed impishly. "You really must get better at reading faces. That makes three times I've managed to catch you off guard." She giggled. "No wonder the trick-or-treaters can get away with their pranks so easily. We'll have to fix that."

A tiny lightbulb went off in that bewildered skull. She had played him. Sally, as sweet and honest as can be, had just completely hoodwinked him!

Jack's sockets narrowed, his expression brooding. "You little nymph!" he roared, pulling himself up so fast that Sally would have fallen off the bed had she not anchored herself by holding his wrists. "Such cruelty to your panic-stricken fiancé!"

"Oh, whatever shall I do?" Sally pretended to be worried. "I feel really bad. Bad dolly." She took his hands and lightly bopped her cheek, laughing as she looked back at him with hooded eyes and a smirk.

Jack snorted, shooting her a dirty look.

"Sal–" Jack was cut off mid-rant when Sally suddenly tightened her hold on his wrists and used her own weight to push Jack onto the bed. His skull hit the pillows while Sally kept her hands on his wrists, her legs straddling his lower torso so that he couldn't use his long limbs to gain an advantage. In other words, the Pumpkin King was trapped once again.

 _Huh, so that's what this feels like,_ he thought, staring up at his ladylove in surprise.

Sally squeezed his wrists affectionately, never taking her eyes from him. "Oh, my deepest apologies, your highness," she said with more tenderness than her previous mirth. "I just couldn't help myself. I thought it would be fun to rile you up a little."

Jack pouted again, looking clearly unhappy, then cracked a little smile at the corner of his mouth despite his best efforts. He sighed when it was clear that he couldn't stay annoyed.

"Okay fine, I'll admit that I might look back and laugh about it later…" He rolled his sockets and regarded her with a touch of concern. "But all joking aside… I didn't hurt your feelings, did I?"

Sally leaned forward and nuzzled his nose. "Not at all." She tittered. "You know silly comments like that don't get to me. Though, I must confess, I did enjoyed making you nervous…"

Jack huffed. "I can quite see that, Sally love…" he drawled dryly, half smirking. "But at my expense?" He tsked, tongue clicking as he shook his skull as if scolding a child. "Shame on you for worrying me like that."

"Oh, but it was so much fun! You really were panicked for a moment." Slowly, she began raising his hands over his head, her smile curling into a satisfied smirk. "It was a little… _exciting_ …to see you like that," she said in a low voice. "You even thought I'd subject you to Frog's Breath instead of something…sweeter…"

"Sally, darling, moonlight of my undead life…" Jack suavely crooned, smiling at ease even while she continued to have him trapped underneath herself. "I'd be a terribly stupid man if I didn't admit that I'm quite intimidated by a woman's wrath, and I've seen you mad at me before." His nasal sockets wrinkled slightly at the thought. "It's not fun and I end up trying to figure out what foolish thing I did to get you to so upset that you would avoid me, even lock yourself in your room to get away from me…" His features expressing his distaste once more. "Again—not fun."

Jack sighed in relief that that wasn't the problem at the moment, shifting a bit underneath her to get extra comfy. It looked like she wasn't going to liberate him anytime soon. He was perfectly fine with that. After all, he had the beautiful and deliciously undressed sight of his fiancée sitting on top of him with a confident and sexy smile on her devil red lips. What was not to like?

He silently observed her, taking in everything that was her. He was very sure that centuries ago even before his time, her image would have been worshipped by many pagan cultures. The idea made him chuckle to himself as his sockets followed her hair, which lay wildly spread over her breasts and shoulders, and up to her glittering eyes.

His iconic skeleton grin sprouted slowly along his lips as his sockets narrowed in interest and delight, making Jack look rather devilish despite his air of calm. He laughed, a low but rich sound that fitted the space between them—dark and intimate.

"I'd say someone liked their first taste of scaring?" He hummed in question, although he was quite sure of the answer. "Congratulations, my darling, I knew you could do it."

"Well, I wasn't really trying to scare you, love. After all, not many can say they scared _the_ Pumpkin King. Surprise–" She thought of how Jack used the term whenever Will would "surprise" him. "–maybe, but scare? Oh no. Definitely not a little doll like me could accomplish such a feat."

Jack chuckled, sockets reflecting his opinion regarding that.

"However…" Sally nibbled her bottom lip. "Keeping you guessing… Building up the anticipation while you wondered what I'd do next…" She leaned in and peppered featherlight kisses down the side of his skull.

Jack hummed in pleasure, a deep purr accompanying the beginnings of another bone rattle. "Oh yes, how I wonder indeed…"

Sally smiled into her kisses. "Of course, we both know what happens when curiosity gets the best of you."

He chuckled lazily, enjoying her kisses too much to bother cheekily replying. He just laid back and smiled like a lazy tomcat.

Sally pulled away, noting Jack's silence, and stared down at him. "Oh, what's this?" she asked. "Nothing to say? I thought you were wondering what I was up to?"

He grinned up at her and lightly quirked his brow. "Why Sally, is it really so surprising when I exercise restraint? I mean, I'm certainly not going anywhere anytime soon." Jack pushed against her hold on his wrists and arched his hips up as if to backup his claim.

"True. Before you could hold back with me, but I know you, Jack, and you have more curiosity than the preverbal cat. Need I remind you about St. Patrick's Day? The cage hidden beneath the fountain…just you and me, alone…in the dark…" Jack's lazy grin turned a touch wicked with satisfaction, making Sally laugh. "I'd hardly call that restraint, all things considered."

"Hmmm perhaps…" he concluded. "But I certainly did apologize for it, though that doesn't mean I regret doing it in the first place." He winked cheekily.

"Neither do I, my love," she purred back.

"All alone with you in the dark…the rest of the town blissfully unaware that their King and future Queen were engaging in rather _amorous_ activities just beneath the streets they were celebrating on…" Jack recounted, his voice deep yet silky as he leaned up as much as Sally's hold would let him. "Feeling you quiver against me… You looked so lovely and confused..and a little helpless. I could see you so clearly in that darkness, could hear your heart beat faster and faster, and your breathing change once I touched you." He chuckled, a dark and smoky sound. "I'm really surprised that I didn't ravish you then and there, but I was able to control my desire enough to get a small sample of what was to come once I was completely yours…"

Jack stared straight into her eyes, sockets darker than ever, and flames burning low and in deep shades of scarlet-orange.

"And you… completely _mine_ …"

Sally closed her eyes, relishing in how his words sent shivers along her skin. So sweet. So…possessive. She turned her eyes back on him. Normally, he was the dominant one, towering over her as if protecting her from all around them, but there was something to be said with their current reversed position.

"I am proud of you for the restraint you showed back then, even though I too desired to be closer to you," Sally whispered. "It was…thrilling… All around was so dark, I couldn't see a thing. Only your voice, your touch…" She paused to gingerly kissed his brow. "I'm still not sure how you managed to drive me mad, but then, who am I to ever doubt the skills of the fiercest creature in all the Seven Holiday realms?"

"And you, most clever and cunning Autumn nymph?" Jack passionately inquired, nuzzling the side of his skull against the underside of her jaw and neck. She had ended up exposing them when she leaned forward to kiss his skull.

"If I drive you mad, then you surely drive me _wild_ ," he continued to nuzzle against her neck, moving from one side to the other with a smile on his mouth when he'd feel her bunch up her shoulder, as if to keep him in that space. "Yes wild, absolutely wild with love and passion and desire…"

Sally was becoming distracted as his nose nudged her. _Oh, he's not going to win that easily_ , she thought, _but how can I possibly resist when he talks like that?_

"Drive you wild, huh? Well then…" She pursed her lips and lowered her voice. " _Mon amour terrifiant… Mon cauchemar le plus obsédant._ " She licked her lips and then leaned in until she was brushing her mouth over Jack's skeletal lips. " _Comment wild-ce que cela vous conduisez?_ "

The deep red orange flames dancing along his bones grew brighter, stretching upwards as if trying to reach the object of their wielder's desire, and said wielder could only groan and rattle his bones in delight as a smile spread across his face.

" _Mon cher cœur_ … _Ma poupée chérie_ …" Jack rasped, sockets hooded and staring straight into hers after flickering down to take in the sight of those red lips. " _Tu me poser une question plus dangereuse avec ces lèvres taquinant comme sang imbibé cerises…_ "

He began to tug against her hold, lightly at first to test it. In reality, he had secretly began to detach his hands from his wrists, the carpals of both hands coming away from the joints connected to his ulnas and radiuses with the lightest of _pops_. One would have to really be paying attention to notice the faint sound, but they stayed unmoving. It certainly wouldn't do too get discovered, now would it?

Sally giggled, teasing him with her lips once again. "I love it when you speak French, _mon amour_. It's no wonder it's said to be one of the five most romantic languages."

" _J'adore ton sourire_ ," Jack hummed pleasantly as he continued to slowly undo his joints. "Those French lessons seem to be paying off quite wonderfully, _ma moitié_." He cheekily tried to caught her lips between his with each of her her passes. "Before you know it, we'll be prowling the eerie catacombs and streetlight lit cobblestones of Paris under moonlight, conversing like natives and stealing a couple scares here and there from the locals."

Sally smiled at his cute attempts to snatch her mouth. "Isn't that why you started teaching me, _ma chère_? Or, did you only want me to whisper sweet foreign words in you ear?" she asked. "I remember when you first spoke to me in French. I didn't understand, yet you sounded so… alluring when you said it."

Jack's sockets twinkled as he laughed. "Well, both are true in a way, but my reasons might be a tad more mischievous and generally more fun." He was so close. All he need was just one more…

"Oh, not so fast, _Monsieur_!" Sally moved so the full length of her arms pressed over his, griping her small hands between his wrists and around the area where his hand connected to the bones that make up his thumbs. It was difficult, given his hands were larger and longer in comparison, but she held firm.

"Very clever, my sneaky skeleton, but I'm not planning on letting you escape just yet…Though I commend you on your efforts."

"Oh, woe is me!" Jack frowned and sighed pitifully. "To have my efforts for freedom thwarted by my vixen witted fiancée—pity this poor king!" he exclaimed theatrically and slumped back against the mattress, appearing as if he had given up, but peeked up at her from one previously closed eye socket.

"I guess I'll just have to settle for letting my eye sockets feast upon the heavenly sight before me as my captor exposes more of her oh-so terribly feminine figure while she makes sure that I can't escape." He deeply sighed. "Oh well…"

Sally lightly giggled while giving his wrists another affectionate squeeze. "Hmm… Now that doesn't seem very fair."

"What doesn't, my vixen?"

Sally smirked. "It's just occurred to that that of all the times we've been, well…naughty." She gave him a seductive gaze and leaned into his lips again. "And taken into account of last night… I think it's hardly fair that I've been the only one to be teased in the dark."

"My dear, you seem to have forgotten…" Jack hummed, sockets inquisitive. "Our rendezvous on St. Patrick's Day had the two of us enveloped in darkness. And just last week, after my bout of illness, when I took you out for a midnight stroll? It was one of the rare nights Halloween Town has no moon." He gave her a cunning smile. "I seem to recall the entire town was shrouded in a cloak of near eternal night… It certainly made our evening all the more…interesting…"

"Oh very true, but again, _both_ of us were not hindered by complete darkness, dearest Jack," Sally contradicted, purring his name. "We've always teased one another by some form of light. Daylight, candlelight, moonlight…and don't forget last night how we made love by the glow of the fireplace…and your Pumpkin Fire…"

"I could never forget such a thing, and how you looked against that light…" Jack trailed off, feeling his bones heat up all the more just thinking about it. He chuckled after shivering. "Eyes or no eyes, I saw everything just perfectly, darling."

"But I'm not equipped with night vision like you, love, so I was completely blind," she reminded him, "while you could see everything."

Jack smiled, remembering all he had seen those fortuitous nights. For a creature like himself, to be in such darkness was similar to the day but with dimmer lighting. It was like pulling the curtains in a way where the light still seems through, but it's nice and dark in the room.

"I can't help that as the Master of Fright my ability to see without any light makes it so I have no problem prowling in the dark."

"Still, I think fair is fair. I told you how mad you drove me… Only the sense of touch and sound to guide me…" She leaned down close, kissing his boney eyelids when Jack shut his eye sockets. "…I simply wish to return the favor, my Jack-o-lantern."

Jack grinned stupidly, the way one does when feeling both thrilled and relaxed—like having an extra skip in your step. First of all, despite the more sultry names they'd given one another over the past month—not to mention the ones exchanged in the heat of passion—that particular pet name always has a sugar-rush-like effect on him. He remembered the first time Sally had called him that. They had both been under the influence of Moonflowers during the second month of their courtship. Thanks to Jack, the witches' weed had them shamelessly mooning over one another and despite the slightly awkward morning following after, the incident did help progress their intimacy a little. Since then, they had chosen to call each other by their favorite pet names. It had been a while since she had called him that, and it caused a giddy grin on his face. That, and there was the matter of what his tempting fiancée was implying.

"Why Loveling, are…" he started to say, though his tone probably betrayed his uncertainty as his mind worked around what she was hinting at. "Are you talking about something a bit more daring? Like a blindfold?"

Jack did feel a bit hesitant, but more from the surprise he felt at her suggesting such a thing. It was a little difficult for him to ever see himself engaging in that area of foreplay, though blindfolds were relatively innocent compared to the more raunchy "games" he had been forced to hear from the mouths of many males he had befriended—a certain foul mouthed, beetle crunching poltergeist being a perfect example. Though he wouldn't deny that his phantom pulse did seem to beat a little faster at the thought of her wanting to engage in such play, even if a little.

"Well, we both know turning out the lights certainly won't do anything…" Sally trailed off as she lowered herself to his neck, eyes never leaving his gaze. She could see Jack recognized the very familiar gesture. "To be honest, I thought it might be a fun…challenge."

"C-Challenge?" Jack inquired distractedly. He was all too aware of what Sally was doing to him. "Wh-What challenge?"

She began to press soft kisses along the bones. "Why, to see if I can drive you as wild as you drove me. In total darkness…" She pressed his arms a little more firmly as she worked down his neck in a slow procession, deepening her kisses and occasionally nipping him. "With only…sound…and…touch…picturing me with only your mind's eye…wondering what I'll do…and you can't see it coming…"

"Th-that d-does soun– _Merde, qui se sent_ –" Jack was finding it very difficult to gather his words at the moment. It certainly didn't help that Sally was sucking on the hollow of his throat. "B-babydoll, you k-know I can't t-think when y-you do t-that," he gurgled with a weak laugh that was interrupted by another grunt of his. She had sunk her teeth in and was currently alternating between sucking and licking that Jack was sure his mind wouldn't recover from anytime soon.

She gave his throat one more kiss before responding. "So… I take it you're interested in my little…offer?" she asked. "It would only take me a moment to run back to my room and find a suitable bit of cloth you couldn't see through…"

Jack swallowed, feeling the new bruise sting a bit as he did so. "B-by all means," he cleared his throat, "take-take your time."

Sally smirked. "Oh, but you'd have to promise to hold still while I get something to cover your eyes." She moved back and nuzzled her newest mark on his throat. "Think you can do that, Jack-o-lantern?"

"I'm–" He gulped. "–rooted to the spot, darling," he joked as he tried to get control over his racing heart.

"Jack…are you by any chance…uneasy…about this?" Sally asked. She looked up when she felt how shaky he became. She moved to press on his wrists with one hand while she brought her other hand down to caress his cheek.

"No…okay, maybe a little…" Jack confessed, nuzzling into her palm. "It's just that, before last night, I thought we'd move to the next physical step on our wedding night… But I certainly don't regret making love to you, my Sally." His sockets reflecting the same tenderness and sincerity in his words before he softly huffed with a grin on the corner of his mouth. "I certainly still desire you terribly," he admitted, "and I'm pretty sure I still will want to make love to you over and over and over again even after we've been married for quite some time." He grinned shamelessly and kissed her palm.

"It's just that I guess a part of my mind is still processing all this…newness…" Jack made a face. He wasn't totally satisfied with his word choice, but it was the best he could think up at the moment. He was soon smiling up at her again. "I'm still very interested and willing to try, Sally, if that's what you want to do too."

Sally chuckled. "Oh, no need to worry, my love," she said, kissing his nose. "I feel the same. As for wanting to try blindfolding you… I just thought this would be a fun way to make up for teasing you earlier…among other things…"

"Really now?" Jack asked, grinning with interest.

A seductive laugh pasted over her lips. "But I promise not to do anything neither of us are ready for," she whispered. "I only suggested the blindfold because _someone_ is able to see in the dark, and I don't think you'd be able to keep your eyes closed… Especially if I'm to be holding you down…"

"You do know I won't go down so easily?" Jack purred sweetly, sockets narrowed slightly in challenge. "I don't plan on making the Nice List this year, my ravishing rag doll. I caught you off guard in the shower, but I'll be very aware of your seductive trickery, so I hope you give me your best even while I'm lacking my sight," he warned, voice dark and velvety with a hungry gleam in his sockets. His fanged smirk looked rather dangerous against the glow of his Pumpkin Fire.

"I'd expect nothing less, my amorous lover, but…if you promise to be good while I'm away…" She let the offer hang. Once more, Jack's sockets gleamed with eager anticipation, his flames sparking back into life. "…Perhaps, once you've been blindfolded…we might…" She leaned down and whispered into his ear.

Jack choked on his own tongue and started coughing as his sockets snapped wide open. The fire covering his bones whipped and danced chaotically as he looked at her, his expression like that of a starving man even as he blanched fiercely.

"S-Sally!" he rasped, having not completely recovered his breath. His heart felt like it would crash through his ribs at any moment with how fast it was beating. If it were up to him, he would have just ignored the last of his control and taken her right then and there!

He wanted everything, _everything_! He wanted to feel her wrap her arms and legs around him while they continuously tangled themselves deeper in the sheets of his–no, _their_ bed! He wanted to watch her reach that peak then fall apart again and again as he made love to her until tomorrow's sun came up! But he couldn't do that because he promised to be good!

Jack groaned so deeply that such a sound could easily be mistake for one of terrible pain, which in a sense was true. However, his pain came from wanting his fiancée so bad that it border lined on his whole body physically aching.

Sally giggled as she slowly slid off Jack and the bed. She knew he'd be too stunned to move, making it more fun as she walked to the door, sashaying her hips as she went. She turned back and gave him a coy smile. "Now don't go anywhere…" she said in a sing-song voice.

His response was weak as he took a deep breath, covering his sockets with his arm. "P-promise, darling, I promise. Just please… Please, please, please…" he pleaded with a strained laugh, "no handcuffs or anything like that." He swallowed thickly and continued in the same rough tone. "My control is basically hanging by a thread right now… It snaps and the plan goes out with window…"

Sally paused at the door, turning to look at the sight of her frustrated skeleton. Who could have thought she would be the one to make Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King and ruler of Halloween Town, beg from sheer desire? The thought made her smile.

"Jack, I wouldn't dream of binding you to the bed or anything so risqué," she said, fluttering her eyes to accompany a wicked smile. "Even if I did, the only thing I could use to keep you tied down would be the Soul Robber. I would never want you to be completely immobile…"

"Sweet Samhain!" Jack sighed and collapsed against the bed before gazing back at her. "That's at least a bit of a relief."

"Besides…" The look she gave him sent a shot of desire throughout his whole body. "We should at least keep _something_ for the wedding night."

Jack gaped as she disappeared from sight. His whole body was now encased in red-gold flames that, had he been in a sober state, he'd ponder how the whole room wasn't engulfed in the fiery inferno.

"Yup…" Jack muttered to himself with a dazed chuckle. "Marriage is going to be one hell of an adventure…"

 **The end**

* * *

 **AN:** Well, that's it folks. My first smexy fic. Once again, you can blame Werejaguar for all the heat this story had...though she'll argue that up at the end there I was not exactly being restrictive. Hey, she's the one who kept feeding the steam bunnies.

Anyway, thank you again for all the wonderful reviews. This probably means now you'll be expecting more steaminess in future storie...crap, what have I done?!

Jokes aside, I'm sorry to report I'll be taking a break from NBC for a bit. I've got too many stories that I've been neglecting, and I've kinda been in a Jally rut lately. Don't worry, I still fully intend to write up the wedding, and Werejaguar and I agreed that _You're Simply Meant For Me_ is LONG overdue for an update. It just means it'll be a while before I get back into the swing of things.

So long and if you have an idea for anything you'd like to see me write in the future, feel free to let me know in the comments.


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